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Fabulous Quartararo: local hero
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The French rookie rider Fabio Quartaro takes pole for the second consecutive time this season under difficult conditions ahead of his home crowd, while Kent languishes in the rear of the starting grid.
Before qualifying started rain threatened, making it vital to get out on track quickly and take advantage of dry conditions in case the weather worsened. As soon as the session opened, riders took to the track in a hurry and set to work, hunting for an early hot lap. Fabio Quartararo and teammate Jorge Navarro Estrella Galicia 0’0 immediately took the two top positions of the standings, with Quartararo lapping in 1’44.763 and Navarro just 122 thousandths off his pace.
As feared, the rain increased and shortly after both riders crashed out on the same curve, followed by Jorge Martin (Mapfre Aspar Mahindra). The lap times of the two Estrella Galicia 0’0 team mates would not be beaten.
Quartararo said that they plan to use their grouping to their advantage: “Jorge has achieved the second position, so tomorrow we will try to make a group to push hard and take advantage. Achieving pole in front of the French public is very exciting. I feel a lot of support and it’s something very special. I think we have very good pace and I am sure that tomorrow we can do a great race. ”
Although Danny Kent (Leopard Racing) once again dominated the first two free practice sessions and clearly has what it takes to be fast at Le Mans, he will start from 30th on the grid after an unfortunate tactical error in QP. Kent said that he left the box late in the session to avoid anybody getting a tow from him and in order to get a clean lap. Unfortunately his box exit coincided with it starting to rain and he was unable to post a competitive time.
Although Danny Kent (Leopard Racing) once again dominated the first two free practice sessions and clearly has what it takes to be fast at Le Mans, he will start from the very bottom of the grid after an unfortunate tactical error in QP. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic about tomorrow: “The result of this qualifying practice is more or less a big disaster. However, the points are there to collect tomorrow so I need to be aggressive as much as possible from the opening laps. We’ve shown a fast pace all weekend long so there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to display a strong comeback and fighting up to the front.” Kent said that he left the box late in the session to avoid anybody getting a tow from him and in order to get a clean lap. Unfortunately his box exit coincided with it starting to rain and he was unable to post a competitive time. Even though he qualified 31st, he is to start from 30th on the grid thanks to Hanika’s penalisation from Race Direction from two weeks ago.
Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) qualified down in 24th, but he will start from last because of the penalty he received in Jerez on the previous round: “Tomorrow morning I start from pit lane and I will try to do my best. The first laps will be tough because I’ll be alone, but I will concentrate on doing my job and catching those in front of me. If we can score points, it will be like a victory for me.”
Rain or not, these atypical circumstances will surely make Sunday’s Moto3™ race a great show as Hanika and Kent try to fight their way up through the pack.
The Moto3 action continues on May 17 at 08:40 local time with the warm up session, with the race to start at 11:00.
Moto3™ Qualifiying Practice Classification
1 – F. Quartararo (FRA) HONDA 1’44.763
2 – J. Navarro (SPA) HONDA 1’44.885
3 – F. Bagnaia (ITA) MAHINDRA 1’45.457
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