Fourth place on Aragon grid for Pol Espargaro

Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Pol Espargaro stormed to 4th position in qualifying today at the MotorLand Aragon circuit and will begin the battle at the 14th round of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship as the leading satellite bike on the grid.

The young Spaniard started the vital qualifying day by continuing his setup work and then speeding to a best time of 1’48.449 in FP3. This left him in 7th place in the session but 8th overall and able to pass straight through the Q2.

Once the intensely competitive 15 minute shootout commenced, the 24 year old jumped onto his Yamaha YZR-M1, determined to seize a top placement. After building up his pace, Espargaro powered to a best lap of 1’47.334 on his sixth out of seven, which resulted in him securing 4th with the gap to third place being just over a tenth of a second.

Therefore, the 2013 Moto2 World Champion will start from the head of the second row as he equalled his best qualifying position of the year. He intends to achieve his target of battling as closely as possible with the factory MotoGP bikes and aims to finish inside the top six.

Pol Espargaro
“Fourth position is definitely a positive end to today’s qualifying and it is a promising starting point for the upcoming race. Yet, it hasn’t been an easy day as we had to face some difficulties with a lack of grip during FP4 when I ran on a used rear tyre. Afterwards, during the qualifying with the two new rubbers, the conditions changed completely and I felt much more confident. I was searching for the limit a bit during my first run and then I gave it everything I had on the second tyre and the final result is really pleasing. This is even more important as the first corner here is a bit dangerous and some other turns in the opening sector are tricky regarding the braking at the start of the race, so it’s truly positive to be able to kick off proceedings from the front of the field.”

Source: Tech3