Front row start for Luis Salom, 8th spot for Maverick Viñales, Edgar Pons looking to improve setup for race

This afternoon saw the qualifying session of the Spanish GP at the circuit of Jerez, with Pons HP 40 rider Luis Salom playing a key role. He achieved the third best time which entitles him to a place on the front row of the starting grid.

Luis was able to solve the rear grip problems which caused him problems yesterday, and with the setting changes that he and the team made on the Kalex this morning, he could improve his fastest time by eight tenths, landing himself a sport on the front row of the grid.

Maverick Viñales didn’t have luck on his side and couldn’t get a good feeling with the changes made on his Kalex. He was not able to match his times from the morning session and his fastest lap in qualifying was two tenths slower than his best time during FP3. This prevented him from qualifying higher up and he will start tomorrow’s race from position eight. Maverick’s best time is 82 thousandths slower than that of his teammate Luis, which just shows how closely fought the Moto2 class is.

Edgar Pons, who is making his debut in the World Championship, has not been able to find a setup that allowed him to ride like he usually does. In the FIMCEV, in which he is the current leader, they’re using different tyres to the ones being used this weekend. Due to this, Pons could not get the right feeling on the bike and will dedicate tomorrow’s warm up to try a different setup.

Luis Salom – 3rd place – 1.43.174
We had some problems with the rear grip in the previous practice sessions. But we improved the bike a lot for qualifying. The team has done a fantastic job, they gave me a fast bike and I’d like to thank them for their efforts. I’m very happy with today’s result. I think we still have room for improvement tomorrow and I’m confident we can have a great race in front of our home crowd.

Maverick Viñales – 8th place – 1.43.256
The morning session went really well for us, I felt good on the bike. But for qualifying we made a couple of changes which didn’t work as expected. So I find myself in eighth place and four tenths from the fastest rider. But I’m calm going into the race. I think there will be a big group of riders as we’re all very close time wise and many riders have a good pace.

Edgar Pons – 37th – 1.45.652
We’ve been working all weekend to find a good setup which would allow me to ride like I normally do. We struggled a bit and I’ve not been able to get the feeling I wanted. Tomorrow we’ll make some changes during warm up and I hope that will improve things. It’s been a difficult weekend so far but I’m enjoying the opportunity I’ve been given and I’m learning a lot.

Source: Pons Racing