Espargaro shines in Italy to seize 7th on the grid - Printable Version +- TT Website Forum (https://www.ttwebsite.com/forums) +-- Forum: Isle of Man TT Website (https://www.ttwebsite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=3) +--- Forum: Other Race Meetings - MotoGP, WSB & BSB, Irish Roads etc - (https://www.ttwebsite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=13) +--- Thread: Espargaro shines in Italy to seize 7th on the grid (/showthread.php?tid=17928)

Espargaro shines in Italy to seize 7th on the grid - Malcolm - 13-09-2014 Pol Espargaro surged to 7th position in today’s qualifying challenge which will see him begin tomorrow’s Misano Grand Prix from the head of the 3rd row. The young Spaniard began the day positively in perfect weather conditions as the sun shone down in Italy and he went straight through to Q2 after clinching 9th in FP3. The rookie then embarked on the Q2 session with speed from the word go and powered to a best time of 1’33.557 on his 6th lap. His time was stunningly only three tenths of a second from the pole position. Furthermore, the fact that the reigning Moto2 World Champion clocked the quickest sector time in T4 impressively underlines how rapidly he was able to adapt, having ridden less than 90 minutes of dry track time aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 on this circuit. Espargaro now looks forward to tomorrow’s race where he will aim to challenge as the leading satellite MotoGP bike once again to strengthen his 7th place in the World Championship standings in his rookie season. Meanwhile Bradley Smith will begin tomorrow’s 28 lap sprint around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from 9th place on the grid. The British rider began the day by completing the morning practice in 8th and setting the fastest T3 sector time. Later in FP4, Smith closed the session with a best time of 1’34.953 which saw him fully prepared for the 15 minute shootout Q2 session at the 4226 meter circuit. The 23 year old rider sought to make an impact straight away, however, his attempts were prevented by a lack of traction from his rear tyre. Despite this, the British star battled onwards to produce a best time of 1’33.761, less than half a second from the final front row position of Valentino Rossi as well as being the fastest Yamaha through the speed trap with 285.5 kmh. From this grid placement at the rear of the third row, he will intend to undertake a rocket start and then ascend up the field to seize a top point scoring position. Pol Espargaro - Position : 7th - Time : 1’33.557 Laps : 8 "Considering that we just had one day of dry track time, I'm really satisfied with our qualifying performance. We have been truly fast plus a gap of just 3 tenths to the pole position is something we should be quite proud of. However, we could have been even higher up the grid but I made some mistakes in sector 1 and 2 on my fast lap which definitely cost me a lot of time. We have to be confident for tomorrow as the start will be crucial due to it being difficult to overtake at this circuit. I'm still a bit unsure about our race pace as due to the conditions we could not try a lot of laps with the same tyres, so tomorrow morning's warm up will be another important occasion for me to try a few more adjustments in order to be as prepared as possible for the 28 lap sprint." Bradley Smith - Position : 9th Time : 1’33.761 Laps : 9 "Finishing 9th for sure means things did not go according to plan and once again the start will be crucial for our performance tomorrow. I hoped to be a bit further up the grid but my feeling with the second tyre was not the same. I always use the first tyre in Q2 to get up to speed and then do my quick lap on the second but this time after we changed the tyres, the bike didn’t handle comfortably and I had high sides on each corner entry. With the nature of this circuit I wanted to be in the top six so that I could be in the best position for tomorrow. However, despite this it goes without saying that I am ready to get stuck and give it my all. As for the race pace, I’m still a little unsure but I rode FP4 on old tyres where I managed to do 1’34 lap times and of course when we start with fresh rubber it’s always easier. There’s a few things to try in warm up, but I am very pleased with how the bike handles during braking which is very important at Misano and I will need to be doing a lot of overtaking tomorrow to get to where I want to be." .