THINGS BACK TO NORMAL IN AUSTRALIA WITH 10THSEASON POLE BY MARTIN
It is hard to say if Jorge Martin’s #AustralianGP pole position was the real news or if it was the fact that the Spaniard was last seen on the very front of the grid more than a month ago – at Aragón. In any case, the championship leader is back to full fitness and that showed today with a 1’36.596secs lap-time in qualifying at Phillip Island. With his 10thpole position of the year, the Team Del Conca Gresini Moto3 rider will try to extend his lead over Bezzecchi, who was only 15thtoday.
On the other side of the garage, Fabio Di Giannantonio did not shine after being extremely fast in wet conditions during FP3 – he topped the timesheets ahead of Martin. In qualifying, the young Italian was unable to stay near the front mainly due to the strong winds. Diggia, who is currently third in the standings with a 29-point gap to the top, will be forced to yet another comeback from the back of the field as he will line up on row six for the 17thrace of the season, which gets underway at 13:00 local time (GMT+11).
1st– JORGE MARTIN #88
“We managed to be competitive already this morning on wet track, which is something we had struggled to do in Japan. Despite the strong wind, we showed a good pace on the dry this afternoon despite lapping on our own and we were able to make a final decision on the tyre to use tomorrow. We also took pole position in the process, so it has definitely been a positive day for us. We need to stay focused though, as points are earned tomorrow.”
17th– FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #21
“I must say that today’s expectations were a lot higher, especially if we look at how quick we were this morning in wet conditions. The strong winds and the lack of a good slipstream didn’t help in qualifying so we could not get a good grid position and therefore we will have to – as usual – put together a comeback.”
