Difficult Le Mans qualifying for Juanfran Guevara and Jorge Martin
This afternoon’s traditional forty-minute qualifying practice for the Moto3 class was reduced to just a handful of laps of action that decided the grid for tomorrow’s race. With black clouds hanging over the Le Mans circuit this afternoon the riders went out to set a quick lap immediately and those that managed it within the first four minutes were rewarded as the heavens duly opened.
For the rest there was little point trying to improve their lap times or take risks on the wet track, making the rest of the session largely redundant. Quartararo, Navarro and Bagnaia claimed front row starts as the two leading riders in the championship Kent and Vázquez were limited to lowly grid positions, making for an interesting race tomorrow.
Juanfran Guevara has made progress throughout the weekend and despite his discomfort with a broken collarbone he managed to squeeze in a lap that was good enough for fifteenth on tomorrow’s grid, whilst MAPFRE Team Mahindra youngster Jorge Martín was one of the unfortunate ones as he crashed out early in the session and faces a tough fight through the pack.
3rd Pecco Bagnaia 1.45.457 (3 laps): “Qualifying was tricky because it started to rain virtually as soon as we went out. My plan was to get to the front of the group and push as hard as possible and luckily I was able to set a decent time on my first lap, even though the bike was sliding. On the second lap I almost crashed in the first corner so I backed off and came in. We waited to see if the track dried out but it didn’t so we finished up with third place on the grid. It is a positive result for us and I am happy to be starting from the front row for the first time. We are calm ahead of tomorrow’s race because we have made progress all weekend, we feel strong and we will be going out to fight for the win. The important thing will be to try and escape at the front. I will give 100% and hopefully that is enough for a top result.”
15th Juanfran Guevara 1.47.037 (3 laps):
“We did a good job this morning and the feeling with my collarbone is getting better every day. It will be uncomfortable tomorrow but I don’t think it will prevent me from completing the full race. We start from fifteenth position and we will have to take another step forward tomorrow, like we did this morning when we improved our lap times straight away. We can’t set major goals with my collarbone in its current state but we have been improving all weekend and we can aim for a positive result tomorrow. The set-up is good and it allows me to ride the bike as I want. I am sure it will be a long race so we will have to concentrate and try to get back in the points after some disappointing finishes lately.”
34th Jorge Martín 2.06.206 (5 laps):
“We knew it was going to rain so we went out onto the track first to try and set a quick early lap. I was on a good lap, catching Fenati and the group with Quartararo and Bagnaia in, but I was unlucky and crashed quite heavily, although luckily I wasn’t hurt. We will have to make a strong start tomorrow to try and make up positions from the back of the grid. It promises to be a crazy race with a lot of riders trying to make passes.”
Source: Aspar Media
