Fantastic fifth for Pol Espargaro in Silverstone qualifying

Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Pol Espargaro will lunge from 5th position on the grid for the 12th round of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship at Silverstone after undertaking a brilliantly executed qualifying campaign today.

The Spaniard began proceedings on Saturday morning by completing the FP3 session in 9th position, which left him able to instantly progress through to Q2. Proceeding that, a successful ride to 5th in the final free practice saw Espargaro full of optimism as he determinedly looked onwards to the qualifying 2 shootout. When the session began, he bolted from the pit lane aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 and set a fast time of 2’01.031 on only his second lap.

This was only 0.084 back from the head of the second row and his performance today will see him start the race as the leading satellite rider. He will seek to leap forward when the lights go out tomorrow and then challenge the factory MotoGP bikes at the rapid British circuit.

Pol Espargaro
“It’s been quite a while since I have been as satisfied as this after the qualifying. The session went very well and with the new tyre and the good grip, we were finally really competitive. However, the most important thing is that we had a consistent pace in FP4 and I was able to feel confident with the lower grip level as well, which is an area that we usually struggle with. So now we need to analyse the solution that we found as this might be crucial for other tracks because it could allow us to be fast straight away. Regarding the race tomorrow, we do not really know what to expect with the weather conditions, but for sure starting from the second row will be a huge positive. The initial 5 to 7 laps will be vital for a strong result because it is usually on the full fuel load where we lose most of our time, but I will certainly give it my all and put on a good show for the British fans.”

Source: Tech3 Communications