Reaching the top spots in Moto2 today was highly competitive and the MAPFRE Aspar riders rose to the challenge. Yesterday they both worked on grip and corner stability and today they put their improvements into action. On Saturday morning both Jordi and Nico improved their feeling with their bikes and lap times subsequently improved too, as they finished FP3 9th and 7th respectively. Early in the QP session they both still sought improvements but managed top 10 positions with late efforts in the final minutes. Jordi ended up 6th and Nico 9th, with both ending the day pleased with their results and impatient to start Sunday’s race in the Czech Republic.
6th Jordi Torres 2’02.690 (18 laps): “It’s amazing that at such a long track we are all so close in terms of lap times, especially the top riders, but that shows how good this category is. You would think there would be bigger gaps at this circuit but it’s the other way round. We haven’t quite got there on set-up but we are nearly there. The bike is competitive but let’s see over a race distance. Tyre life is key but that’s the same for us all. In warm-up if the weather is good we’ll work on braking stability. Other than that the bike is great and the team has worked really hard. We can take advantage of slipstreams if we’re in a group race tomorrow. It’s going to be war from start to finish and I hope to be up front.”
9th Nico Terol 2’02.852 (17 laps): “We did a great job and were so close to the front row, but that’s how it goes in Moto2. We had a chattering issue this afternoon and we fixed it but on the final lap I lost control and had a light crash. If it wasn’t for that I could have improved my best time more but anyway I’m still pleased with our work and the top ten position. I like this circuit and if I get a good start I hope to finish the race well. It’s going to be tight as we saw from QP today, with so many riders who hope to be up front. We need to be alert as it looks like it might rain. If the race is dry we have to fight from start to finish, if it rains we all start from scratch.”
Mapfre Aspar Moto2 Press Release
