Bendsneyder in 17th, Biesiekirski in 29th
After qualifying directly for Q2 in the third free practice session at Motorland Aragon, Bo Bendsneyder set 17th fastest time in qualifying for the Moto2 race. Piotr Biesiekirski managed to qualify in 15th place in Q1 and thus will start the race from 29th tomorrow at 13.20 CET.
Bendsneyder had a strong FP3, in which he could be found in the higher regions constantly. Sixth fastest time in the end (1.52.907) earned him eleventh place in the combined rankings and therefore direct placement for Q2. In this session he set a time of 1.53.097, good for 17th place on the starting grid for the race, which starts an hour later than originally planned, due to cold conditions in the morning.
Biesiekirski reached a lap time of 1.56.601 in FP3. He managed to improve that time significantly in Q1 to 1.55.293. This brought the young Pole to 29th.
Bo Bendsneyder: “In Q2 we lost a few minutes by changing the rear tire. I had little grip, much less than for example yesterday and this morning. That’s why we put the used tire from FP3 back in and the feeling was much better. Unfortunately, I only had one full lap left and I was very close to the lap time, but I couldn’t improve it anymore. That’s a shame, because I think it could have been more than P17, but for now we have to be satisfied with it. We have shown that the speed and the pace are there. Hopefully we have that tomorrow as well and we can fight for the points.”
Piotr Biesiekirski: “It was a good day again and I’m happy with our progress. It the morning I improved my time by just a bit but I felt much more comfortable on the bike and knew that I could still go much faster. That’s what I did during the qualifying, improving my time by almost seven tenths of a second. I felt much more relaxed again and that’s what I’m the most pleased about. So far I’ve been 29th in all of the sessions this weekend which is a good result considering where I’m experience-wise in only my fourth Grand Prix start. I’m feeling good and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race.”