Tech 3 Racing Team rider Danny Kent showcased his full potential on the French-built Mistral 610 machine this afternoon to storm to a season best grid position in a close Moto2 qualifying battle at the Brno track.
The British rider will start tomorrow’s 20-lap race from a promising 12th position, with Kent’s best lap putting him less than 0.050s away from securing a first top 10 start.
Kent has been in fantastic form all weekend and signs that he is making huge strides in adapting to the demands of the fiercely fought Moto2 category were evident in practice when he delivered an outstanding performance.
Kent powered his Mistral 610 machine to the fifth quickest time on combined times at the end of FP3, a lap of 2.03.123 a stunning improvement of almost two seconds compared to his speed in yesterday’s opening session.
The former Moto3 winner continued to impress in this afternoon’s qualifying session and at one stage he had thrust himself into contention for the top six in pleasantly warm conditions.
His final pace of 2.02.956 was only a fraction over 0.7s away from pole position and just under 0.4s away from World Championship contender Pol Espargaro on the front row. Kent is now confident he will be able to mount a strong challenge for his second points scoring finish of the season ahead of his vital home race at Silverstone next weekend.
Kent’s fantastic pace was unfortunately not matched by fellow rookie Louis Rossi, despite his crew working non-stop to improve his confidence and feeling on the Mistral 610 machine.
The Frenchman will start from 28th position on the grid, with a best lap of 2.04.299 not denting his confidence that he can fight for a positive result in tomorrow’s 10th race of 2013.
Danny Kent 12th 2.02.956 – 19 laps :
“I’m very happy with my qualifying today. I’m just 0.3 seconds away from second position, but what’s even more important is that I’ve been consistently fast during all the practice sessions this weekend and my race pace is really promising. The crucial point for tomorrow’s race will be the start, but I’m convinced we will battle for a good top 10 finish. I also want to thank my team because after the difficult race last week in Indianapolis they really helped me to improve my feeling and my confidence each time I went out on track. Now I would love to reward their hard work with a good result.”
Louis Rossi 28th 2.04.299 – 18 laps :
“It was a really difficult qualifying for us. We expected so much from this track and also from the bike as Danny was fast all the weekend. Unfortunately we started on Friday morning with some issues on the bike and we’ve still not been able to find a good feeling, even though my team tried everything to help me. I was sure we found the right direction for qualifying but a tyre problem during the last run obstructed us once again and we could not show the improvement. But I have no excuses because Danny clearly showed that our bike is really competitive at this track. if I’m sure the race will be a tough one tomorrow but I’ll give it my all to learn as much as possible.”
Tech 3 Racing Press Release
