Improvements for Nico Terol & frustration for Jordi Torres in Misano qualifying
Less than a second between the first 17 riders and less than a tenth of a second between the riders on the front row – those are the margins in Moto2. Kallio and Rabat began QP on the pace but Luthi, who had led the final practice session, took over and dominated the middle part of the qualifying session.
The Swiss rider seemed to have things clear in his mind and appeared ready to take pole, but the title fight between Kallio and Rabat drove them on. Rabat was on target, but the Finn produced a perfect penultimate lap to take the pole and show he means business after the race in Silverstone. Several riders look like possible Sunday race winners, but certainly the Kallio and Rabat remain the main men.
Friday was too early to draw any conclusions but today, after the second day at Misano, in perfect conditions, MAPFRE Aspar rider Nico Terol, is back on track. The break has done him good and he is gradually getting back to his best.
He ended up 17th morning after nearing the top ten. In the afternoon he continued with the same mentality, to ride and enjoy himself without thinking about anything else, and although the end result was not as much of an improvement as expected, he really enjoyed the first half of QP. Ultimately he was classified in 16th position, nine tenths off the best time.
Four places and two tenths behind is teammate Jordi Torres. The MAPFRE Aspar rider has had problems with set-up and even though he improved his time on the last lap, his feeling with the bike was not as he had hoped for.
Nico Terol 16th 1’39.028 (20 laps):
“The feeling until halfway through QP was great. I went out looking forward, slowly improving my times and my pace. It was a shame that in the end with the new tyres, I couldn’t take full advantage. At the end we made a change to the front end but it was wrong because it was hard to turn the bike, so tomorrow we’ll go back. Clearly, we’ve taken a step forward compared to the rest of the season. I am very happy because we have progressed enough this weekend, and we’ve also achieved the highest position of the year, but we are still far from where we should be. Now more than ever we must go step by step. The important thing is that I feel much better on the bike and that makes me enjoy my riding. Tomorrow we will try to make a good start and be aggressive to get a good result from the race.”
20th Jordi Torres 1’39.177 (23 laps):
“Today was a difficult day for us. We had high expectations for this circuit, because I like it a lot and usually I’m good. But today the bike did not feel really with us. It’s proving hard to get into the corners and to get it to run smoothly. I don’t feel comfortable riding. The suspension doesn’t seem to help with braking as I go into the corners. We’ve done a thousand different tests but still haven’t found the solution. I hope the warm-up session will help us get back on track.”
Source: Aspar Media
