Espargaro starting home race from front row, Rabat and Pons frustrated with qualifying results
Pol Espargaró had one hand on pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya, only few minutes from his home in Granollers, in a frantic qualifying session which he was leading shortly before the chequered flag came out. In the end he was left with the second-fastest laptime and a spot on the first row of the grid, together with Marc Márquez and Swiss rider Tom Lüthi, the three riders who also lead the Moto2 championship separated by only three points.
Polyccio was left without a chance to improve his time in his final two laps as he ran into a lot of traffic when he put on new tyres. Tito Rabat will start from ninth position, after slashing 0.8 seconds off his laptime from Friday, while Axel Pons will line up on the tenth row of the grid, struggling with a lot of problems on the bike which kept him from going faster than yesterday and also suffering a crash without consequences in the morning session.
2. POL ESPARGARÓ, 1.46.382 “Starting from second place is always a good result, but to do it at home and by such little difference leaves you with a bit of a bittersweet emotion. I have a great race pace and I was hoping for a final attempt on a fast lap, but I encountered a group of riders waiting for a tow and I ended up taking a stroll through the grass. Aside from it being difficult to improve your time with that much traffic it’s also very dangerous, but nobody pays any attention and one day something bad will happen.
Tomorrow I look forward to a great race, that the spectators have a great time and let’s see if we are able to go home as the championship leaders. And if that’s not possible, to lose only very few points, because this is very long and the championship won’t be over until November.”
9. TITO RABAT, 1.47.107 “I’m very angry, because a third row start at your home race is not a good result, so I have to grit my teeth and go for a good start and put myself among the first in the opening laps. I think we have a good setup, a high pace and that we can do it and we only needed one good lap. In that regard I am more than angry, because in the last laps I kept running into riders waiting on track looking for a tow, even on the straight and riding in a group. This is very dangerous and I think someone needs do something about it before anyone gets hurt.”
28. AXEL PONS, 1.48.453 “The bike just doesn’t go well at all and despite feeling good with the setup of the chassis it was impossible for me to go fast. I lose a lot, both in acceleration as well as on the straights where I can’t even follow in the slipstreams and tomorrow we’ll try to find solutions to be competitive in the race and make up some positions. I’m giving it all each time I go out on track, but it’s obvious that we have a problem and we must fight to solve this if we want to take some points.”
Source: Pons Racing
