Team Suzuki Press Office – May 14.
Joan Mir: 7th – 1’30.943 (+ 0.493)
Alex Rins: 8th – 1’30.977 (+ 0.527)
The focus will be on the front group for Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan Mir and Alex Rins after the duo displayed strong pace throughout the weekend. Whilst not starting from optimum spots, they will set off for the French GP from seventh and eighth respectively.
In FP3 Rins initially struggled a little to improve on his Friday time, and Mir was the one running up the front. However, this situation turned around when Rins made a last push to go eighth, despite having a flying lap cancelled. He simultaneously displayed his dominance in sector 1 of the track where he was fastest by more than a 10th of a second. Mir lost out on Q2 passage by just a few thousandths of a second, closing FP3 in 12th.
Mir was not prepared to end his Saturday in Q1, and he worked hard to constantly set quick times, topping the session and taking handfuls out of his previous best laps. In the nail-biting closing moments he set a 1’30.993 to move through to Q2.
In the final session of the day both riders set their best times of the weekend and proved to have good race pace; they are just half a second from the pole time.
Joan Mir:
“I’m happy with today’s qualifying. I didn’t think I would have to go through Q1, but in FP3 I just didn’t feel quite right, and it meant I wasn’t strong enough to finish in the Top 10. This is a track where you either feel good or you don’t. Then we changed some things on the bike and I immediately felt a lot more competitive and this allowed me to go through to final qualifying and to get a good lap time. I still feel like there’s a margin to make even more of a step, so I’m quite hopeful, especially if the race is dry.”
Alex Rins:
“The day was good; I improved compared to yesterday and I’m quite happy with my pace, especially in FP4. I tried the medium and the soft rear tyres, and I felt particularly good with the soft, but we don’t know what will be possible tomorrow. I feel calm and prepared for the race, even though it will be hard starting from P8. The weather looks pretty mixed for tomorrow, and it can be crazy here, so we need to be ready for everything!”
Livio Suppo – Team Manager:
“We were hoping for a little bit more, because we believed that the second row was possible today. But both riders have good rhythm, and they’ve shown this throughout the weekend. I think they will have a decent race here tomorrow, but we hope the weather won’t be too much of a disaster – it’s always really unpredictable in Le Mans!”
GRAND PRIX OF FRANCE QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION:
1 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 1’30.450
2 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 1’30.519 0.069 0.069
3 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing 1’30.609 0.159 0.090
4 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’30.688 0.238 0.079
5 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’30.711 0.261 0.023
6 Johann ZARCO Pramac Racing 1’30.863 0.413 0.152
7 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’30.943 0.493 0.080
8 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’30.977 0.527 0.034
9 Jorge MARTIN Pramac Racing 1’31.068 0.618 0.091
10 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’31.148 0.698 0.080
11 Pol ESPARGARO Repsol Honda Team 1’31.526 1.076 0.378
12 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1’31.595 1.145 0.069
13 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team Q1
14 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing Q1
15 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team Q1
16 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP Q1
17 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Q1
18 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Q1
19 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Q1
20 Andrea DOVIZIOSO WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Q1
21 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL Q1
22 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Q1
23 Darryn BINDER WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Q1
24 Raul FERNANDEZ Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Q1
