Jordi Torres targets strong race fight for Motegi

The final sector of the technical Motegi circuit provided more than the odd headache for the Moto2 riders this afternoon, none more so than series leader and pole favourite Tito Rabat, who took until the end of qualifying practice to perfect T4 and overcome the challenge of Thomas Luthi.

It is the Spanish rider’s eighth pole position of the season but the likes of Zarco, Luthi, Viñales and Kallio have all demonstrated the pace to deny him victory tomorrow.

Jordi Torres managed to improve his performance today after finding some solutions to the front-end problems he had yesterday but after setting potential pole pace around the first three sectors of the track he did not manage to get the better of T4.

The MAPFRE Aspar rider starts from fourteenth place on the grid as a result but he is hopeful of learning from other riders during the race tomorrow as he targets a fight through the pack.

Nico Terol made a positive start to his weekend yesterday but struggled to build on that today as he qualified in 26th place.

14th Jordi Torres 1.51.715 (22 laps):
“Qualifying this afternoon was interesting, we managed to find a way forward with the bike that allowed me to ride with confidence. I like this circuit but we knew it would be tricky for us because you need a perfect set-up to tackle the whole track and we don’t have the front-end feel for the hard-braking sections. We took a step forward this afternoon and I enjoyed myself on the bike, the only downside is the final sector, Motegi where we lose time on every lap. We still need to try and improve there and tomorrow I will do my best to learn from the other riders during the race. But I am ready and looking forward to it.”

26th Nico Terol 1.52.567 (19 laps):
“I was pretty happy with our performance yesterday and I was hoping to take a step forward today. I pushed hard this morning and set a consistent pace but in the afternoon I tried to take a big step forwards and, as has been the case this season, we ended up going backwards because I can’t get the bike to turn and I run wide everywhere. It is frustrating that I can’t ride the bike how I want but we have to keep working to recover my confidence in what is left of the season without obsessing about results. I had a good race last year from way back on the grid so hopefully I can enjoy tomorrow.”

Source: Aspar Media