Jorge Martin looking for Le Mans raceday comeback
With less sun and less heat than on Friday, the Le Mans circuit hosted the qualifying session for the Moto3 French Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon. It proved to be the most evenly matched grid-deciding session of the year to date.
A total of 23 riders -two thirds of the grid- finished within the same second. Italian Nicolo Antonelli claimed his first pole position of the season with a time of 1:42.756, followed by series leader Brad Binder and Spaniards Aron Canet and Jorge Navarro.
The difference between the times of the first four riders was less than a tenth of a second. Romano Fenati and Nicolo Bulega complete the second row at Le Mans.
Mahindra Aspar Team rider Jorge Martín will start with a big fightback in mind at Le Mans, after having to settle for twenty-third position in qualifying.
The Spaniard experienced a gearbox issue with his Mahindra bike, which lost him time at the gear-change-heavy track. Martín hopes to get off the line well, overtake a group of riders and enter into the points on race day.
23rd Jorge Martín 1.43.732 (16 laps):
“I feel comfortable on the bike, but when it comes to setting a hot lap there was always one problem or another. We are having problems with the gear shift and the gears aren’t engaging properly, so every time I make a change I lose time. We are all very close in times, and I hope that tomorrow’s race is run in a group. As I am starting from so far back on the grid, so I will try to gain places quickly so that the group doesn’t get away –and so that I can fight for points.”