Team Suzuki Press Office – August 28.
Grid positions for British GP:
Alex Rins: 10th – 1’59.639 (+ 0.750)
Joan Mir: 11th – 1’59.763 (+ 0.874)
Despite another chilly start to proceedings on Saturday morning at Silverstone circuit, there were still improvements to be had. The MotoGP™ field began FP3 around two or three seconds off Friday’s pace, but Joan Mir was quick to start bringing down his lap times.
Although he struggled a little with feeling comfortable over the whole lap, he managed to make the most of a time attack and place himself firmly into the Top 10. Meanwhile, Alex Rins was also making moves up the timesheet, but a crash at Turn 12 during a flying lap cost him a place in Q2.
In FP4 the track temperature had risen 10 degrees compared to the morning, giving the riders a perfect opportunity to try out different tyre options. Both Rins and Mir generally found good feelings with their GSX-RRs, but not across the entire lap.
Rins gave his all to ensure he made it through Q1 and into the final qualifying session. He immediately topped the timesheets on his first flying lap, and despite losing a lap due to a yellow flag, he put in a great last lap to head into Q2.
Both Rins and Mir attacked the last qualifying session, but they struggled with one-lap pace as the times dropped. They will start tomorrow’s British GP from 10th and 11th on the grid respectively.
Alex Rins:
“Today was a strange day because in FP3 we struggled a little bit with the crash, that put me out of Q2 and then it was hard because I was really pushing for Q2 and I hoped to be there. In the end, I got in via Q1 and I improved my time so I was quite satisfied. I set some good lap times and I had a really good feeling with the bike. The tyre options were useful to try and tomorrow, even though I’m a bit far back on the grid, I want to ride like I did in the past here and get a nice result for the team.”
Joan Mir:
“Normally I would say that starting in 11th position is something normal for us, but today I expected more really. I felt good in the morning and I got through to Q2 without any problems. But then I started to have some trouble with tyres and also electronics, and it was difficult to fix this. It’s not a mechanical thing, the electronics are quite complicated to get right – in some corners I felt really good and then in others I felt bad. It was difficult to get a fast lap. I’m not worried for tomorrow because I think that we can fix it. So I feel quite ready for the race.”
Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:
“It seems that we are competitive here, but other manufacturers have improved a lot and it has put us all on a more level playing field. Joan did really well to go through to Q2 directly, and also Alex managed to get there from Q1. Both riders were fighting a lot for good grid positions, and we’re not completely satisfied because we are on the fourth row. But a good start means we can still have a good race.”
MONSTER ENERGY BRITISH GRAND PRIX – Qualifying Classification:
1. P. ESPARGARO – Repsol Honda Team – 01:58.889
2. F. BAGNAIA – Ducati Lenovo Team – 01:58.911 – +0.022
3. F. QUARTARARO – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – 01:58.925 – +0.036
4. J. MARTIN – Pramac Racing – 01:59.074 – +0.185
5. M. MARQUEZ – Repsol Honda Team – 01:59.086 – +0.197
6. A. ESPARGARO – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 01:59.273 – +0.384
7. J. MILLER – Ducati Lenovo Team – 01:59.368 – +0.479
8. V. ROSSI – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 01:59.531 – +0.642
9. J. ZARCO – Pramac Racing – 01:59.579 – +0.690
10. A. RINS – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 01:59.639 – +0.750
11. J. MIR – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 01:59.763 – +0.874
12. B. BINDER – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 01:59.977 – +1.088
13. E. BASTIANINI – Avintia Esponsorama – 01:59.553 – Q1
14. L. MARINI – SKY VR46 Avintia – 01:59.764 – Q1
15. T. NAKAGAMI – LCR Honda IDEMITSU – 01:59.881 – Q1
16. D. PETRUCCI – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing – 01:59.997 – Q1
17. A. MARQUEZ – LCR Honda CASTROL – 02:00.117 – Q1
18. I. LECUONA – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing – 02:00.131 – Q1
19. C. CRUTCHLOW – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – 02:00.217 – Q1
20. M. OLIVEIRA – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 02:00.391 – Q1
21. J. DIXON – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 02:00.869 – Q1