CEV Repsol: Poles in Valencia for Rodrigo in Moto3, Vierge in Moto2, Barragán in Superbike and Sardanyons in KZC
Changeable weather is dominating the final round of the championship: there was fine rain in the free practice sessions on Friday, and in the qualifying sessions today there were strong gusts of wind but also some sun to reward a good number of fans with an intense day’s qualifying.
Moto3 proved to be a popular category, with 56 riders in contention. Facing such fierce competition, the eventual pole-position rider Rodrigo Gabriel (ARG-KTM) went out early and set an unbeatable time of 1:40.369 in the morning session, bringing him his second pole of the season. Jorge Navarro (SPA-Honda) – already wearing the colors of the team he will be joining next season – nabbed the second fastest time on his antepenultimate lap of the afternoon session. Champion Fabio Quartararo (FRA-Honda) will start from the third slot on the grid tomorrow, with John McPhee (GBR-Honda), Albert Arenas (SPA-KTM) and Marcos Ramírez (SPA-Ioda) making up the second row.
Xavi Vierge (SPA-Tech 3) will lead off the Moto2 race as he did in the previous event in Portugal. The Targobank Motorsport rider set a best time of 1:37.356 on his final lap of the afternoon session. Jesko Raffin (SWI-Kalex) also set his best time in the second session to earn second place in the front row. Steven Odendaal (RSA Speedup) will join them, taking the third slot as he did in Catalonia, equaling his best qualifying finish of the season. Quickest Superstock 600 rider was Alex Siderol (SPA-Kawasaki).
In Superbike, Team Stratos rider Santi Barragán (SPA-Kawasaki) ends the season with his first pole position. He was the only rider to go under one minute 35 seconds in an intense qualifying session, in which less than a second separated the top six riders. To his right will be Carmelo Morales (SPA-Kawasaki), and Robertino Pietri (VEN-Kawasaki). Kenny Noyes (USA-Kawasaki) and Iván Silva (SPA-BMW) – leading riders in the overall ranking – will start from the second row. Ole Planssen (NOR-Ducati) proved to be the best privateer rider.
The Kawasaki Z Cup riders finished the day, still with everything to play for. With twenty riders chasing their best times, the pole finally went to Joan Sardanyons in the very last moments of the qualifying sessions. Also on the front row of the grid tomorrow will be Francisco Valera and José Jiménez.
The race schedule for next Sunday is as follows (local time):
11:00 Moto3 (18 laps)
12:00 Superbike (19 laps)
13:00 Moto2-Supertock 600 (19 laps)
14:00 Moto3 (18 laps)
15:00 Kawasaki Z Cup (18 laps)
As usual, entry to the paddock will be free on Sunday. In addition, the first FIM CEV Repsol fans on Sunday from 9AM to go to the Accreditation Centre located in the access control booth can get a pass to take part in the Pit Lane walk which will take place before the start of racing.
Regarding television coverage, the following channels have confirmed they will broadcast some or all of the races live: the Movistar MotoGP channel of Movistar TV and the Energy TV channel of Mediaset Spain; Eurosport in France; Sky in Italy; and BT Sports in the UK. For all other countries, races can be seen live in English on the Championship’s Youtube channel.
Source: CEV Repsol
