Team Suzuki Press Office – July 16.
Team SUZUKI ECSTAR will start from the second row of the grid at tomorrow’s ninth round of the MotoGP™ World Championship at Sachsenring in Germany after yesterday’s pole-setter Maverick Viñales put his GSX-RR into sixth position.
Team-mate Aleix Espargaró will start from the middle of the third row in eighth place after significantly-improving his lap-time in the hot and dry conditions this afternoon; a complete contrast to yesterday’s mixed cool and, at times, wet conditions.
Both Suzuki GSX-RR riders have been in the mix for the front positions from the start today; both qualifying directly to Q2 with Viñales third with a time of 1’21.820 and Espargaró seventh on 1’22.593.
In the final Q2 – to determine the top four-rows of the grid – their progress continued with both of them in, or around, the top four-or-five positions, but Viñales didn’t quite make the front row, although his and Espargaró’s lap-times were their best of the weekend: Viñales lapped at 1’21.784 on his final ninth lap and Espargaró 1’21.883 on the same lap.