#AUSTRIANGP: THIRD ROW FOR DIGGIA AS MARTIN SMILES WITH 13th PLACE
The eleventh qualifying session of the Moto3 World Championship has been contested today at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, with Fabio Di Giannantonio and Jorge Martin showing once again great signs of competitiveness after the encouraging performance in the opening day of action.
Despite dark skies and low temperatures, the quarter-litre class riders were able to ride on a fully-dry track surface for the whole duration of the qualifying session. Diggia led the charge for Team Del Conca Gresini Moto3 as he secured ninth place on the grid with a 1’36.967secs lap-time. The young Italian could have aimed for more, but some late-session traffic on the track prevented him from improving further.
Jorge Martin claimed a really positive 13th position on the grid for tomorrow’s 23-lap Austrian GP Moto3 race, which will get underway at 11:00 local time (GMT +2). The Madrid-born rider showed an OK fitness condition but most of all some good on-track aggression, which is crucial for some extra confidence ahead of tomorrow’s race. Martin’s lap-time was only 46 thousandths of a second shy of his team mate’s.
9th – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #21
“I must said that, considering my usual performance on Saturday, I’m very happy. A third row is a good achievement, although I was expecting a bit more given my performance in practice and the good feeling on the bike. Unfortunately, slipstream is far too important at this track for a good lap-time. In the final minutes, I was ahead of everyone and I knew it would have not helped my cause, so I slowed down a little – although I stayed within the limits not to incur in any penalty. I don’t think I affected Fenati’s performance at all: he was a bit nervous at the end of the session but I understand that. We will speak about it and I’m sure it’ll all be good.”
13th – JORGE MARTIN #88
“I’m not happy with my qualifying position but we had a good pace for tomorrow and I hope we’ll have a great race. A good start will be needed in order to stay with the front group in the early part of the race and make sure no one pulls away, then the goal will be to finish in the top-5. I’m not sure how I will cope with the full race distance of the race, I know I can be consistent for 15 laps or so, then I’ll have to bite the bullet but that’s what we’re here for!”
