Espargaró takes front row start as Rabat and Pons struggle with injuries
Joy and pain for the Tuenti HP 40 riders on the second day of the practice at the German GRand Prix, which for the 16th year in succession takes place at the Sachsenring circuit.
Pol Espargaró was fighting for pole position and ended up third, closing out the first row, just 0.039s behind Belgian rider Xavier Simeón and 0.026s behind fellow Spaniard Jordi Torres.
Tito Rabat on the other hand suffered a heavy crash in the morning seession, fortunately escaping with only a torn ligament in the left foot. Although it is not a serious injury, it is still very painful and especially at a track with ten left corners. Tito tried his best and eventually finished 23rd, only a second behind pole position. Axel Pons finished just behind his teammate (0.049s) and both will start tomorrow from eighth row to try and fight for points.
3. POL ESPARGARÓ, 1.24.704 “I’m happy to start from first row at such a short circuit and especially for the race pace I have and having Scott Redding several positions behind me. We have a good opportunity to make up points in the chhampionship, but I keep in mind that it will be a long race, a critical one, with a lot of podium candidates and it’s important to finish. I tried several times to set the fastest laptime, but in the end Xavier Simeon and Jordi Torres were ahead of me and I want to congratulate them, especially Jordi, because he’s a great guy and a born hard worker. I am calm, you can’t always get pole position, and tomorrow it will be important to start well and avoid the usual first corner incidents at this track.”
23. TITO RABAT, 1.25.727 “It was a very difficult qualifying due to the effects from the hard crash this morning. Firstly I struggled to warm up the left foot which at this track suffers a lot with ten left corners and when it seemed okay I noticed some cramps like it was getting numb and I had to focus more on changing gears with the instep and not crash than going fast. Now I will rest and tomorrow we’ll do a good warmup and try to do the best possible in the rest and take a few points. It was a very hard crash and it’s been a shame, because I was confident to return to the front.”
24. AXEL PONS, 1.25.776 “If you look at the results and see yourself in 24th position its horrible, but if you see that you’re only 1.1 seconds behind pole position you know that you’re competitive and realize the tremendous equality in Moto2. Every time I went out on track I improved my time, despite not being 100% recovered from the arm surgery, and I hope we can continue like this in warmup and the race. I want to take some poinst and it will be important to improve a few tenth in the second and third sector.”
Source: Pons Racing
