Team Suzuki Press Office – October 24.
Grid positions for Teruel GP:
Alex Rins: 3rd – 1’47.155
Joan Mir: 12th – 1’47.642
The Team Suzuki Ecstar pairing of Joan Mir and Alex Rins came into Saturday’s action feeling confident after a consistent and impressive day one, and the morning’s FP3 session gave the perfect opportunity for the riders to fine tune their setup. As the times started to drop, the focus was on getting through to the all-important Q2; something they managed to achieved as they both closed the session within the Top 10.
With pace and bike feel already sorted, FP4 was used for testing different tyre combinations and putting in longer runs to try and establish tyre wear.
In Q2 both Rins and Mir hinted at early pace, with the former heading to the top of the timesheets early on. Championship leader Mir used the soft front tyre but struggled to find the optimum feeling that he’d had during practice. He will start tomorrow’s race from 12th on the grid. Meanwhile, Rins was able to turn his qualifying fortunes around, taking a great third place on the grid; his first front row since Assen 2019.
Sunday sees a revised schedule once again, with MotoGP Warm-Up at 09:50 local time, and the MotoGP race at 13:00 local time.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“It’s great to have Alex on the front row again, he did a really good job all day and he has good pace for tomorrow’s race. Unfortunately, Joan struggled with the front end during qualifying and he wasn’t able to push. He will start from 12th on the grid, which won’t be easy, but we’re hoping to put everything together to give him the best chance of fighting at the front tomorrow.”
Alex Rins:
“I’m really happy to be back on the front row. It’s been a long time, and it feels good to be back. Since last weekend we’ve found a few extra things to make me quicker and feel even better with the bike, so this has increased my confidence. I think I have good race pace, but it will be tough because there are a lot of competitive riders here. What happened last weekend gives me a boost and motivation to get back on the podium, but we’ll have to see how the race plays out.”
Joan Mir:
“I’m not happy with how qualifying went. In FP4 I worked with a medium front tyre and I felt really good with that, but then in Q2 we decided to switch back to the soft front and I couldn’t get the same feeling so I wasn’t able to push. I was a bit unlucky because I was doing a good lap just before the end, but I saw the yellow flag and I rolled off, and then the time ran out. In general my times weren’t too bad, but I’m not happy with the position. On the plus side, my feeling and pace in the other sessions was good so let’s see what’s possible.”
GRAN PREMIO LIQUI MOLY DE TERUEL – Qualifying Classification:
1. T. NAKAGAMI – LCR Honda IDEMITSU – 01:46.882
2. F. MORBIDELLI – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 01:46.945 – +0.063
3. A. RINS – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 01:47.155 – +0.273
4. M. VIÑALES – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – 01:47.241 – +0.359
5. J. ZARCO – Esponsorama Racing – 01:47.297 – +0.415
6. F. QUARTARARO – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 01:47.326 – +0.444
7. C. CRUTCHLOW – LCR Honda CASTROL – 01:47.377 – +0.495
8. M. OLIVEIRA – Red Bull KTM Tech 3 – 01:47.509 – +0.627
9. P. ESPARGARO – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 01:47.519 – +0.637
10. A. MARQUEZ – Repsol Honda Team – 01:47.603 – +0.721
11. I. LECUONA – Red Bull KTM Tech 3 – 01:47.621 – +0.739
12. J. MIR – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 01:47.642 – +0.760
13. A. ESPARGARO – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 01:47.372 – Q1
14. J. MILLER – Pramac Racing – 01:47.394 – Q1
15. B. BINDER – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 01:47.478 – Q1
16. S. BRADL – Repsol Honda Team – 01:47.585 – Q1
17. A. DOVIZIOSO – Ducati Team – 01:47.747 – Q1
18. F. BAGNAIA – Pramac Racing – 01:47.759 – Q1
19. D. PETRUCCI – Ducati Team – 01:47.855 – Q1
20. T. RABAT – Esponsorama Racing – 01:48.114 – Q1
21. B. SMITH – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 01:48.402 – Q1
