Team Suzuki Press Office – October 17.
Grid positions for Aragon GP:
Joan Mir: 6th – 1’47.679
Alex Rins: 10th – 1’48.035
Saturday morning’s FP3 session at Aragon was pushed one hour later than usual to allow the Spanish circuit time to warm up. Despite this, a cautious approach was still taken by Team Suzuki Ecstar’s riders.
Towards the end of the session it was necessary for Joan Mir and Alex Rins to protect their positions in the Top 10 and the pair managed it well, finishing FP3 in sixth and ninth on combined times.
FP4 saw Mir settling into an impressive rhythm with consistently quick lap times, as well as trying tyre options and finalising settings and he closed FP4 in third after a string of six fast laps, and a total of 15 laps. Similarly, Rins also proved to have great pace over the course of 13 laps, and he closed the highly competitive FP3 in 11th.
The Team Suzuki Ecstar duo took to Q2 with confidence, going second and third on their first lap out of the pits. On his second run, Mir managed a 1’47.679 to get into sixth place, and he defended this spot until the chequered flag, taking a second-row grid spot and marking his best qualifying since the Styrian Grand Prix.
Rins lost one lap due to a small moment, but he still managed a decent 1’48.035, completing Q2 in 10th place.
Sunday’s revised schedule means MotoGP Warm-Up will now be at 11:00hrs local time, and the race at 15:00 local time.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“Today we’ve improved a lot compared to last weekend’s qualifying. Having Joan on the second row is good and gives us a boost for tomorrow. We’re happy with his pace and I think we can be competitive tomorrow. Alex also improved his qualifying performance and he also has really nice race pace. We’ll fine tune a few things in the morning and see what happens when it’s time to race.”
Joan Mir:
“I’m really happy about the work that the team and I did today. We took some steps forward compared to yesterday; I feel great with the bike and my race pace is strong. I also had an improvement in terms of qualifying, which is something I really wanted to do. So I’ll start from the second row tomorrow and I hope to continue with my feeling and see what I can do in the race.”
Alex Rins:
“FP4 today went really well and I focused a lot on being consistent and having a solid race pace, this paid off and I feel good with the bike. I struggled to get one hot lap in qualifying, but 10th on the grid is not too bad. Our bike works well here and if it’s a bit warmer tomorrow it could be even better.”
GRAN PREMIO MICHELIN® DE ARAGÓN QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1. Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT 1’47.076
2. Maverick VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’47.122 0.046 / 0.046
3. Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL 1’47.305 0.229 / 0.183
4. Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT 1’47.317 0.241 / 0.012
5. Jack MILLER Pramac Racing 1’47.413 0.337 / 0.096
6. Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’47.679 0.603 / 0.266
7. Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1’47.759 0.683 / 0.080
8. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team 1’47.924 0.848 / 0.165
9. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1’47.988 0.912 / 0.064
10. Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’48.035 0.959 / 0.047
11. Alex MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’48.189 1.113 / 0.154
12. Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’48.202 1.126 / 0.013
13. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1’47.752 Q1
14. Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’47.853 Q1
15. Iker LECUONA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 1’48.005 Q1
16. Johann ZARCO Esponsorama Racing 1’48.068 Q1
17. Francesco BAGNAIA Pramac Racing 1’48.386 Q1
18. Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 1’48.431 Q1
19. Bradley SMITH Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1’48.556 Q1
20. Tito RABAT Esponsorama Racing 1’48.558 Q1
21. Stefan BRADL Repsol Honda Team 1’49.166 Q1
