FIM CEV Repsol, Barcelona: Qualifying round-up
Alonso López (SPA-Honda) in Moto3™, Tetsuta Nagashima (JPN-Kalex) in Moto2™ and Carmelo Morales (SPA-Yamaha) in Superbike lead the starting grids of their respective categories in the fourth round of the FIM CEV Repsol this weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where last week’s Gran Premi Monster de Catalunya was held.
In Moto3™ Alonso López (SPA-Honda) earned his first pole in the Moto3™ Junior World Championship after achieving the best time of the day of 1’54.143 in the first qualifying session. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (ITA-Husqvarna), who had taken pole each meeting so far this season, had to be content with the second slot, despite posting the best time of the second session. Albert Arenas (SPA-Mahindra) will close out the front line of the grid tomorrow for the first time this season.
Asia Talent Team riders Kaito Toba (JPN-Honda) and Nakarin Atiratphuvapat (THA-Honda), performed strongly in qualifying practice and will start from the second row ahead of Tony Arbolino (ITA-Honda). World championship rider John McPhee (GBR-Peugeot) finished seventh, 0.871 off the pole time. In Moto3™ Production Héctor Garzo (SPA-Honda) edged out Aleix Viu (SPA-Honda) to post the fastest time in the class.
In Moto2™, Tetsuta Nagashima (JPN-Kalex) took his first pole this season after setting a time of 1’50.566 in a close qualifying session with Remy Gardner (AUS-Kalex) 0.181 behind and Steven Odendaal (RSA-Kalex ) just 0.022 behind the Australian. The AGR Team rider set the same time as Ricky Cardús (SPA-Transformers), riding a unique machine for team Promoto Sport, but Odendaal will start in front as he set a faster time than the Spanish rider in the first qualifying session.
With Jacopo Cretaro (ITA-Yamaha) absent, recovering from injuries sustained in the pileup of the last race of the Moto2™ European Championship at MotorLand Aragon, Ivo Miguel Paixao (POR-Kawasaki) set the fastest time of 1’54.039 in Superstock 600.
Carmelo Morales (SPA-Yamaha) notched up his second consecutive pole with a time of 1’49.781, the only rider able to get under 1’50 in the Superbike European Championship. Ángel Rodríguez (SPA-Kawasaki) and team Kawasaki Palmeto PLRacing, who habitually dispute this event, broke the status quo of the first row of the grid established by Carmelo Morales, Maximilian Scheib (CHI- BMW) and Santiago Barragán (SPA-BMW) thus far this season, finishing second ahead of the Chilean Targobank Easyrace SBK Team rider.
Finishing fourth overall just behind Maximilian Scheib and in front of Santiago Barragán, Norwegian Ole Bjørn Plassen (NOR-Ducati), was the quickest privateer rider.
In the Kawasaki Z Cup, Marc Cortell (SPA-Kawasaki) took pole ahead of Daniel Carrau (SPA-Kawasaki) in a time of 2’00.907, with Francisco Javier Valera (SPA-Kawasaki) closing the front row, repeating the line-up of the first round of the KZC disputed in Valencia. Procurve team rider Daniel Carrau is category leader with 50 points followed by Marc Cortell on 40 points.
Sunday’s race schedule is as follows (local time):
Moto2™ (17 laps): 11.00
Moto3™ (16 laps): 12.00
Superbike (17 laps): 13.00
Moto2™ (17 laps): 14.00
Moto3™ (16 laps): 15.00
Kawasaki Z Cup (16 laps): 16.00
As usual, entrance to the paddock will be free over the weekend. In addition, FIM CEV Repsol fans can pick up a pass on Sunday from 8.30 onwards (from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Pass Center) to join the Pit Lane walk that will take place before the start of racing.
In Spain, the races can be viewed live on the Movistar MotoGP channel which will broadcast all the races scheduled in the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, Moto2™ European Championship and Superbike European Championship categories. BT Sports (Great Britain) and Eurosport via Eurosportplayer (France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands) also offer coverage of the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, Moto2™ European Championship and Superbike European Championship with live broadcasts of each of the races through their digital network. In Italy, Sky will broadcast live both the Moto3™ Junior World Championship races and both the Moto2™ European Championship races.
In addition, all the races can be seen live on the Championship’s Youtube channel.
Source: CEV Repsol
