Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Bradley Smith completed a superbly executed qualifying performance at the bwin Grand Prix České republiky which will see him start the 11th round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship from 4th on the grid. The young British rider continued yesterday’s positive start at the Automotodrom Brno by opening today with a superb 3rd place finish and as the top Yamaha in the morning practice with a best time of 1'56.780 which saw him sail straight through to the Q2 qualifying session. The 23 year old proceeded to push further onwards in the dry qualifying shootout and on his 6th and last lap he powered over the start finish line to post a best time of 1’55.730 in what was an impressively hard fought qualifying session. In addition, his inspiring lap time was incredibly a mere four thousandths of a second from the front row and his expert performance saw him only two tenths from the circuit best lap. The British star will seek to undertake a lightening start from the front of the second row and then aggressively compete to be the leading satellite bike aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 in tomorrow’s race at Brno.

On the other side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 garage, Pol Espargaro continued his positive qualifying campaign this year by clinching 9th position which will see him start Sunday’s 22 lap race around the 5403 metre Czech circuit from the 3rd row. Following yesterday’s noteworthy performance in the rookie’s first full wet session the reigning Moto2 World Champion completed this morning’s practice with a best time of 1’56.825 allowing him to slip straight through to the Q2 session before improving his time further in FP4 to strongly finish in 4th. Espargaro sustained his confident performances as he sought to lower his lap time further in the 15 minute session and then blazed to a best time of 1’55.899 which was only 0.173 from the front row and three tenths of a second from the pole position time. Tomorrow he will aim to undertake a soaring start and battle to a top 5 finish once again for round 11 of his rookie campaign in the premier class.

Bradley Smith - Position : 4th Time : 1'55.730 Laps : 6

"I am very pleased with the qualifying result as it gives me the perfect platform for a strong result tomorrow. It’s the first time since the start of the season that we have been back to the level of performance that we had at Qatar and today I was able to score a positive grid position. The team did an excellent job and I must thank my technicians and Guy Coulon for their brilliant technical knowledge plus guidance. In all honesty, I was a bit worried as we seemed to struggle yesterday but it’s super to be back up to speed and then to top it off by qualifying on the second row. Furthermore I am really happy with my decision to use the front medium for the Q2 session which was the perfect choice. I am very confident that I will be able to have a good start and then stay at the front with the leading riders, so I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s race."

Pol Espargaro - Position : 9th Time : 1'55.899 Laps : 7

"I am a little disappointed with qualifying 9th after I have ran well in the rankings during the whole weekend so far, including 4th in FP4 so I hoped to be a little higher at the end of qualifying. All of the times today were really close and the distance to the front row was not too far at all, but the competition is high as this is MotoGP. Honestly, I still lack a bit of experience in qualifying because in this class you have to perform your quick lap instantly whereas in Moto2 there was more time and you built yourself up for the attack. The qualifying result today puts us into a slightly tricky situation and the start will be vital to score a good result here. In terms of tyre choice, I did try both compounds today and I felt confident on either variation, however we will decide on which one to race after judging the conditions tomorrow morning. I would not predict tomorrow’s race to be an easy one but I am still convinced we can do a good job as my race pace itself is very promising and my aim is still a top five finish here in Brno."

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