Jordi Torres aiming for best result yet from 7th on Montmelo grid
The heat was the key factor of the day for the Moto2 riders at Montmeló, with the track temperatures reaching 50ºC during qualifying.
Most of the top riders recorded their best times early in the session, with Scott Redding’s late push into second place the only movement at the top of the timesheet towards the end. Espargaró was back to his dominant form at the front of the pack, but from second place down to 20th on the grid the riders were split by just one second, meaning it should be a fantastic race on Sunday.
In this scenario of controlled chaos, the two MAPFRE Aspar find themselves involved in that packed bunch. Jordi Torres proved that his good Friday times were no fluke and was one of the protagonists, improving his feeling with the bike to feature near the top. He ended up seventh and so therefore starts at the head of row three, with pódium aspirations and a good chance of his best result of the season.
Nico Terol was struggling with bike set-up and rear grip, but worked hard to find some stability – which was costing him time and crucial ground on track. He ended up 20th despite trying numerous solutions so he will keep working hard in warm up to find a better set up for the race.
20th Nico Terol 1’47.808 (17 laps):
“Throughout the weekend I’ve been having grip problems and when I try to push it the bike is sliding so we’re not progressing. Apart from Pol at the front all the rest of the riders are close in terms of times but it’s no excuse, I’m well behind. I pushed really hard towards the end and nearly crashed, it’s been a tough weekend so far. But we know the way this category is, anything can happen. We won’t get down about it, we’ll just work hard tomorrow to improve. I’m starting quite far back so I have nothing to lose, I’ll aim to start well and go on the attack.”
7th Jordi Torres 1’47.258 (19 laps):
“Yesterday we were sturggling for feeling but today we’ve started to find the way forward. I think we can go faster and we’ll try a couple of things in the warm up. Even though we’ve taken a step forward the front end is still too reactive so we need to find more stability. We have to be happy in general because we have a good package. A good start tomorrow is going to be crucial because it’s a long drive to the first corner so you don’t want to lose too many positions. I want to get on it like at Mugello and fight the riders I come up against.”
Source: Aspar Media
