Difficult qualifying for Joan Mir in Jerez
A sour Saturday in Jerez for the Leopard Racing Team dup. Joan Mir will begin on the third row after his best lap time was removed.
It will be a race of attacking for the Leopard Racing team tomorrow, due to the difficult qualifying that Joan Mir and Livio Loi had on Saturday afternoon. Both are ready for their comebacks from the third row for the Spaniard and the sixth row for the Belgian.
The morning began with higher temperatures than yesterday, with the sun shining down on the 4.4 km of Jerez de la Frontera track. Joan Mir hit the track in great shape during Free Practice 3, running constantly in the top rungs of the timesheet and ending the session with a good fourth place. A preview of what was to be expected in Qualifying, aiming for at least the second row of the grid.
Unfortunately, the leader of the Moto3 class saw his time of 1’46.625 ruled illegal due to running off track at Turn 10 in order to avoid another rider who was slow on the racing line when Mir had two red helmets through the first two sectors. This time had been good enough for the top five but his previous lap of 1’46.838 was applied, still good enough for the third row. The 19-year-old from Palma de Mallorca will again aim for the win: he likes a challenge and has become accustomed to comebacks.
The protagonists of the Moto3 class will return tomorrow morning at 8:40 am for 20 minutes of Warm Up, anticipating the 2017 season’s fourth race, which will kick off at 11:00 local time.
#36 Joan MIR – 9th (1’46.838):
“It was a sweet day, because we have the rhythm to run at the front. We could have made a quick time, but sometimes in qualifying things did not go as you would like. On my way I met another rider who disturbed me and in the end I had my best time removed. But I’m confident for tomorrow, I have so much motivation and I’m sure I can do a great race!”