CEV Repsol, Navarra qualifying: Canet, Techer and Morales dominate
Despite the forecasts, today’s qualifying sessions at the Circuit de Navarra took place under a cloudless sky and in ideal temperatures. Arón Canet (SPA-Honda) in the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, Alan Techer (FRA-Tech 3) in the Moto2™ European Championship and Carmelo Morales (SPA-Yamaha) in the Superbike European Championship each posted the best times in their respective categories, putting them at the front of the grid for tomorrow’s races.
Canet, Mir, Masià, Bulega, Arenas, Dalla Porta, Yamada … there were many candidates for pole position in the Moto3™ Junior World Championship qualifying sessions in Navarre. However, the scheduled 40-minute morning session had to be cut short because of a power supply problem. The outstanding riders in the first session were Arón Canet (SPA-Honda) – the only one able to get under 1:45, which earned him pole position – with Joan Mir (SPA-Honda) and Jauma Masià (SPA-Honda) second and third. With things sorted out by Race Direction, once the second session got underway at 2:40 p.m. it became clear that there were new protagonists, although times were no quicker. Arón Canet (SPA-Honda) was again the fastest rider, followed this time by Nicolò Bulega (ITA-KTM) who ended up earning fourth place on the grid. Good riding by Albert Arenas (SPA-Husqvarna) gave him the fifth slot after posting the third best time in the second qualifying session.
With impressive laps of 1:41.684 and 1:40.873, Alan Techer (FRA-Tech3) put up the best times in both sessions of the Moto2™ European Championship sessions to earn top spot on the grid. The Frenchman lapped quickly, and in fact the majority of the Moto2™ competitors rode strongly today. The surprise of the day was Luca Marini (ITA-Kalex), who nabbed second place on the grid with a brilliant last gasp lap right at the end of the second session. His team mate and overall leader of the category, Edgar Pons (SPA-Kalex), closed the day with the third fastest time, in a productive day for the riders of the Páginas Amarillas HP 40 Junior Team. Without a doubt, the Italian riders came to Navarre determined to do well: Federico Fuligni (ITA-Suter) showed himself fully recovered from a string of injuries, and will be starting from fourth place after posting some quick times. Top Superstock 600 rider was Marcos Ramírez (SPA-Yamaha) who will occupy ninth place on the grid.
There were some not entirely unexpected results in the Superbike European Championship. Carmelo Morales (SPA-Kawasaki) refused to allow main rivals Robertino Pietri (VEN-Yamaha) or Adrián Bonastre (SPA-BMW) to stop him dominating both qualifying sessions. However, newcomer and best privateer rider Maximilian Schreib (CHI-BMW-Motorrad) brought some excitement by nabbing second place. The Chilean rider, until now on a Moto2™ bike, has made the jump to the senior category in a big way: just 97 hundredths separated his time from that of Morales, overall leader of the standings. Meanwhile, Adrián Bonastre (SPA-BMW) will start from third place on the grid.
The race schedule on Sunday is as follows (local time):
Superbike (18 laps): 12h
Moto2™ (18 laps): 13h
Moto3™ (17 laps): 14h
Superbike (18 laps): 15h
Moto2™ (18 laps): 16h
Source: CEV Repsol
