The first ever Moto3 qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas took place today with the new pole record for the minor category set at 2'16.396 – some six second faster than the best lap in yesterday morning's first free practice. Alex Rins was the man to set the benchmark today but with such drastic improvements in lap times as the weekend has progressed anything could still happen in tomorrow's race.
After fighting hard all weekend to find a setting for this technically demanding track MAPFRE Aspar rider Jonas Folger managed to put his bike fifth on the grid. The German rider has spent most of free practice trying to get more confidence with the front end of his bike through the fast corners and he still has some ideas to try in tomorrow's warm-up. On the other side of the garage Eric Granado set the fastest top speed of the session (230.1 km/h) as he qualified in 20th position.
5th Jonas Folger 2.18.570 (13 laps):
“We have spent all weekend trying to improve the front-end feel of the bike and maybe in order to achieve it we need to alter the rear. We tried various different suspension settings today and altered the geometry but I still didn't feel completely comfortable going into the fast corners. We'll play around with the rear suspension in the warm-up tomorrow and see if we can get a better feeling. Fifth place on the grid is not a bad position but the difference in lap time to pole is worrying and we need to improve somehow.”
20th Eric Granado 2.19.664. (14 laps):
“We found a good set-up this morning that allows me to hold my line better and the bike was ready for qualifying. At the start of the session I was up in the top fifteen and then came in to change tyres but I didn't have the same confidence in the front when I went back out and I ran wide a couple of times. I pushed hard on the last lap to make up a couple of positions and managed to qualifying in 20th so now we'll have a look at what happened and try to put it right in the warm-up. If we can recover the feeling I had in the first part of the session we can have a good race.
Mapfre Aspar Moto3 Press Release
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