Moncayo and Faubel hoping for race-day improvement at Silverstone

At 1pm local time, qualifying for the Moto3 British Grand Prix kicked off at Silverstone under cloudy skies and with a strong wind blowing around the circuit. The threat of rain forced the hand of the teams as they sent their riders out early, looking to clock a fast time in the dry. Masbou, Vázquez and finally Viñales were the only leaders in the session, but whether they will break free tomorrow -with the weather an incognito- remains to be seen.

Yesterday there was a point in the second sector of the Silverstone circuit that was frequently cut by the Moto3 riders as they overpushed, leading to the cancelation of their lap time. This was repeated today on the exit to the final corner in Moto3, just before crossing the finish line. BANKIA Aspar rider Héctor Faubel had two of his best laps scrubbed for such an incident and, like teammate Alberto Moncayo, he had trouble finding top pace in qualifying due to strong winds and early traffic. Moncayo qualified 16th and Faubel 23rd, requiring a fightback on race day.

16th Alberto Moncayo 2.18.832 (16 laps): “We started the weekend well yesterday and this morning we made great inroads, so the feeling was positive. We were not expecting to struggle so much to find our pace in qualifying. At the start there was a lot of traffic, making it impossible to have a clean run at a lap. I managed to get a decent lap in, but it wasn’t what I was hoping for. I am not satisfied with my performance today, but at least I think I have pace and like the new chassis. We have improved the engine performance a little, which motivates us ahead of tomorrow’s race. It will be a tough one, but we are here to work hard.”

23rd Héctor Faubel 2.19.707 (16 laps): “In England you always have the uncertainty of the weather, and that’s exactly what we faced at the start of qualifying. In the end it didn’t pour with rain though. Besides this, there is a strong wind here this weekend that has brought the return of our front end problems. We have tried to find a solution but we are still finding it hard to get on the pace. However, at the end of the session I put in a couple of good laps –which were later cancelled out for some reason. I don’t know why that was, because I don’t think that I cut across at any point on the track. We will be starting from far back tomorrow, but we have the pace to move up the field and I hope that we can.”

Source: Team Aspar Press Release