Nakagami was the man on the pace during free practice but then it was Redding who started to become the protagonist during most of qualifying in Moto2. The first QP of the year in this class showed us various things, the first being that although free practice saw a few unexpected lap times once things got serious in qualifying the normal order was restored. That was demonstrated by how tight the lap times were, with only a second splitting the top 13 riders. The second was that the preseason favourites are on the pace here and will be the ones going for victory tomorrow. The wind made things hard on Saturday and the riders struggled to beat their Friday best times.
Nico Terol worked studiously to make gradual improvements around this Middle Eastern circuit and he was amongst those who managed to bring his times down for a third consecutive day. With a few moments remaining Terol was lapping fourth fastest and he stayed in the top ten throughout the session. A run-off track hindered further progress and he concluded the QP in seventh, with seven tenths reduced from his best Friday time and his confidence growing on cornering. His teammate Jordi Torres was also improving, taking his best time down by over a second. The Catalan rider ended just 1.1s off the top spot and was happy with his progress. With some final warm up tweaks made he will be ready for his Losail debut.
7th Nico Terol 2.01.454 (17 laps):
“I’m very pleased because I went fast from the start and it was great to be in the top five for so long. The pace was good so we’re ready to race. Towards the end I was fourth and pushing to win a few more tenths of a second but I got too straight and I decided not to risk it and ran off. The bike is much better than in first free practice and there is less front end chatter. We’re turning better but we still need a bit more grip, though in general the sessions have been good. We’re at a good level and we’re getting closer to the front. I want to start the race aggressively and not let the front runners get away.”
16th Jordi Torres 2.02.001 (17 laps):
“It was a busy qualifying session and we tried a lot of stuff, some of which worked and some didn’t. Generally I’m pleased because I’m able to finally realy ride here at Losail, I’m growing in confidence and we’re improving constantly since we got here. The rhythm is good and we’re getting closer to the front. We’re quite sure of our plan but in warm up we still have to work a bit more. I want to adjust the front end still so that we can make turning a bit easier.”
Mapfre Aspar Moto2 Press Release
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