Team Suzuki Press Office – September 10.
Maverick Viñales – 3rd.
Aleix Espargaró – 9th.
Maverick Viñales powered his Team SUZUKI ECSTAR GSX-RR onto the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s MotoGP™ at the World Misano Circuit Marco Simoncelli after a hot-lap in the closing stages; as team-mate Aleix Espargaró will start from row three.
Both Viñales and Espargaró qualified through to the all-important Q2 by finishing in third and eighth position respectively in FP3, but when it counted, Viñales found some extra-tenths to post his best lap of the weekend – a 1'32.839, with Espargaró also setting his fastest lap of 1'33.272, which could probably have been even better if he hadn’t incurred a small crash during his last ‘time attack’ attempt.
The day has been positive overall, with intense work undertaken on the set-up to improve the pace for the race; and especially to keep a consistent performance with the increasing temperatures at the Misano circuit in San Marino. The work proved to give positive results, as both riders could find a good feeling and also be fast.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“Good job for Maverick who could make another positive performance; he had a great ride. To start from the first row is important because it helps the motivation and with less pressure.