Jorge Martin qualifies 15th, Juanfran Guevara 18th for Jerez race
The heat continued on the second day of the Spanish GP in Jerez, but the Moto3 times came down slightly. Whilst the 1’47 mark was not breached yesterday, three did so in the morning and another three in the afternoon.
Fabio Quartararo took pole position with a time of 1’46.791, 0.120 seconds ahead of Danny Kent. For tomorrow’s race there will be two important factors to consider: There is likely to be a packed lead group, as eighteen riders concluded today less than a second apart. Also, the heat will play a decisive role and premature tyre wear is sure to affect a number of riders.
The MAPFRE Team Mahindra focused on tyre management ahead of Sunday’s race. Jorge Martín took an excellent third place in the final free practice session, and seemed to have everything in order for qualifying. However, at the critical moment the track conditions changed dramatically. He was nevertheless able to overcome a lack of a good feeling to place fifteenth.
Juanfran Guevara would also have taken a better grid position, had he not experienced a heavy shakedown from his bike on the final corner of his hot lap. He will have to make a comeback from eighteenth on the grid, but has a good pace and an optimal setup.
15th Jorge Martín 1.47.689 (16 laps):
“You can see that our bike is quite sensitive to sudden temperature changes, because this morning we did a great job and in the afternoon it seemed like we were riding another bike. When braking it was stepping out a lot, and when I opened the throttle it bucked me. Nevertheless, I worked hard to try to adapt to the conditions. You have to look on the positive side: In the morning we set the third fastest time and a great pace. The conditions at the time the race will be held should be similar to those we experienced this morning. If so, we will be ready to try to make a comeback. It is sure to be a hotly contested race, but we will enjoy ourselves and I will give my best. We must continue working to try to adapt our bike to the harsh conditions of the heat.”
18th Juanfran Guevara 1.47.773 (15 laps):
“This morning we continued to have the good feeling from before established a clear setup for tomorrow. A priori we were all clear to face the qualifying session, but things did not go as expected. Despite the high temperatures I felt comfortable in the session. In fact, I rode alone for several laps. Shortly before the end I set a very good lap, but on the last corner I had a scare and almost crashed. In the end I could not seal a good enough time to get up to the front spots. Then I found a lot of traffic and although I improved my times, it was not enough. We will start tomorrow in eighteenth position. We’re pretty far back, but I am comforted by the fact that the race will almost certainly be in a group. We will have to go all-out from the beginning to try to gain as many places as possible.”
Source: Aspar Media
