Qualifying for the Japanese GP took place today at Motegi, and it was Jorge Lorenzo who took pole position on his final lap of the session. Dani Pedrosa had been attempting to repeat his top spot from the morning practice, but was beaten by the late push from his rival. Close behind the two Spaniards was Cal Crutchlow, just like at Aragón. Spies and Bautista also looked strong, and just five-tenths of a second separated the top five on the timesheet. That brings hope of a close race in the Japanese round of the series tomorrow.
Once again, the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar riders headed the CRTs in qualifying. The day wasn’t completely smooth for the duo, but both responded well and met expectations. Aleix Espargaró, who had experienced a run-off in the morning practice session, worked against the clock to seal a best time in qualifying of 1’47.383. That was taken on his eighteenth of twenty laps. Less than two-tenths of a second behind was his teammate, Randy De Puniet. The Frenchman is having difficulties finding the perfect setting for solid braking and faster cornering, but he nonetheless put up a challenge to his teammate in every session and will aim to again tomorrow. The two are separated by just a pair of points in the CRT standings.
13th Aleix Espargaró 1.47.383 (20 laps):
“Having Randy as a teammate and direct rival is an honour. If at the end of the year I manage to take the best CRT honour, then it will be all the more deserved for having such a tough rival. This weekend I was pretty comfortable ahead of him until qualifying, where I had to give everything that I had on the final laps to be able to take a tenth off him. Tomorrow’s race will not be easy and I will have to go all-out in order to finish ahead of him. We have a good pace and were the best CRT riders out there. We are ready for the race and it is great to be closer every time to the non-CRTs; we could even beat them, which shows we are doing a good job.”
14th Randy De Puniet 1.47.581 (21 laps):
“The qualifying session was the best run of the entire weekend. There is still something that leaves me uneasy, which is that I am unable to slow the bike down on corner entry. It is difficult for me at every corner this weekend and I am running wide a lot. Thankfully we improved rear grip for qualifying and my feeling got considerably better. The front suspension is where we are having the most issues. We will analyse the data this afternoon and try and get to the race as ready as we can be. Whatever the case, we will go out there trying to perform at our best and trying not to make mistakes, as that could cost us dearly.”
Power Electronics Aspar Press Release
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