Fourth and fifth place for Tito Rabat and Pol Espargaró at first day in Montegi

 In Moto2

The two riders of the Tuenti Móvil HP 40 team marked the two best times in the morning session but finished lower down in the afternoon. Axel Pons finished 19th with a bit more than a second difference.

In the morning session, Tito Rabat and Pol Espargaró respectively set the first and second quickest time during the first free practice in Montegi. But in the afternoon they could not find their rhythm on the bike and they finished fourth and fifth, separated by 17 thousands of a second, without being able to crack the 1.52 barrier.
Axel Pons, who suffered a minor crash in the afternoon, is 19th with a little more than 1.3 seconds off pole position.
The Moto 2 classification was very tight with 17 riders finishing within 1 second of one another.

Tito Rabat
Today has been very positive. I finished the morning in first place and I’m very happy with that because, even though it’s only symbolic, it’s the first time I’ve done this in Moto2. We dedicated the afternoon to working on getting the bike set up just right for race distance which is what we have been failing to do in recent times. We saved a good set of tyres for qualifying. The objective is to achieve a good grid position and to be fighting for the podium.

Pol Espargaró
We’ve been having some small problems and I just didn’t feel comfortable on the bike. We have to see how to solve this issue and take a step forward tomorrow. This year I would normally have a very good feeling on the bike and enjoy it a lot, but here in Motegi that just hasn’t happen yet. I’ve got some problems with the braking and the acceleration is missing the bite. I don’t feel like I have done in previous weekends, but luckily we still have time to turn this situation around and face the race with guarantee of success. Now we just have to work hard and make tomorrow a better day.

Axel Pons
To be honest, we’re doing well. At times we find ourselves very close to the leading riders and we know where we can improve. This afternoon we dropped down a few tenths but I had a small crash without consequences that prevented me from achieving a better result. Nonetheless I’m satisfied because generally we have started well and I believe we can fight to score points
.

Source: Pons Tuenti HP 40 Team

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