ARENAS CLAIMS FRONT-ROW START ALSO IN JEREZ
Following a Friday of ups and downs and a wet, second practice session, Albert Arenas shone in qualifying. With a 1’41.111secs lap-time, he managed to secure the second position of the grid for tomorrow’s Spanish GP Moto2 race – ready to give it all in front of his home crowd.
Manuel Gonzalez was also seeded directly to Q2: the Spanish rider was aiming at pole position, but the wet patches on the track due to the morning rain made his performance a bit more difficult. He still managed to log a competitive time in 1’41.554, which places him on fourth position on the grid. The #18 rider has shown his competitiveness and consistency throughout the weekend so far: he will also have the support of his family and the home crowd tomorrow.
Matteo Ferrari had a challenging day as he suffered a nasty highside in the wet morning session. The Italian was therefore forced to go through Q1, in which he set a personal best in 1’43.090 for the 26th position. He will aim at a good comeback tomorrow.
2nd – ALBERT ARENAS #75 (1’41.111)
“It was really a good day! Today we put together a good qualifying performance and it was really an important thing for us. We are all very quick here at Jerez, so this second place in qualifying really gives me a boost of confidence to continue working. We need to stay focused ahead of tomorrow in order to perform well throughout the whole race. I will give it all here at Jerez, in front of the home crowd.”
4th – MANUEL GONZALEZ #18 (1’41.554)
“It wasn’t our best qualifying result but we’re confident, we have some excellent speed! This morning I tried to find again the feeling with the new tyres in the wet; I started slowly and then built up my pace lap after lap. The goal for qualifying was pole position but I struggled a bit with the wet patches on the track. My lap-time was not ideal, but we’re still fourth on the grid, which is a good position to start tomorrow’s race from, in order to stay with the front group and try to clinch what would be our first win of the season.”
26th – MATTEO FERRARI #23 (1’43.090)
“This morning a huge crash in Practice2 under the rain hindered our work. Then in Q1 the conditions were dry again but with a few patches of water: unfortunately we were unable to resolve yesterday’s problems. Now we will work to find a solution in view of the race. I thank the team for fixing the bike after the crash in record time. We’ll try again tomorrow!”
