Bradley Smith capitalised on the best weather of a rain-hit weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli this afternoon to qualify in the top 10 for tomorrow's Moto2 race.
Yesterday's practice was badly disrupted by intermittent rain showers that hindered the Tech 3 Racing Team's early preparations.
By the time Moto2 field took to the track for the final practice this morning, a damp surface from further rain had dried and Smith and Xavier Simeon could begin working on the ra ce set-up of the Mistral 610 machine.
A fastest lap of 1.38.849 secured Smith 10th on the grid and he was only 0.607s behind Moto2 World Championship leader Marc Marquez, who secured pole position.
Smith was less than 0.3s from the top six and the British rider is optimistic he can challenge for a top six finish in tomorrow's 26-lap race.
It was a positive qualifying session for Belgian rider Simeon, who will start from inside the top 15 on the grid. Simeon demonstrated immense skill and concentration in tricky conditions to head the timesheets yesterday and he put that confidence boost to good use today to qualify in 14th position.
Simeon's best lap of 1.39.074 was just over 0.8s of f pole, as just over one second split the top 20 in another closely contested Moto2 session.
Bradley Smith 10th 1.38.849 – 22 laps:
“It's been a better weekend so far and I am happy with the position but also the gap to the leading group has come down and that is a big positive. We have improved the bike each time I have gone out on track but like a few times this season, when we need to find a bit more pace in qualifying we are unable to do it. It seems when the rest of the field put on a new tyre they can go quite a bit faster and they have the capability to improve more than us. I'm not worried though and it should be a good race. Everyone is going to be starting the race guessing on the set-up a little bit because the weather has restricted the time we've had on a dry track. Nobody is sure how the tyre life will be ov er the race distance but everybody is in the same boat.”
Xavier Simeon 14th 1.39.074 – 22 laps:
“I'm very happy because normally qualifying is not my strongest point and we made some improvements and it has been a positive weekend so far. Yesterday I was fastest in the wet and this was a nice boost and today I qualified 14th, so this gives me a much better chance of battling for the top 10. My pace is fast and the lap times are very close so it could be a big fight tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. I'd like to improve the edge grip a little bit on the rear tyre, but with nobody having had the opportunity to assess tyre life because of the weather, nobody has an advantage.”
Tech 3 Racing Press Release
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