#FRENCHGP: ANOTHER POLE FOR MARTIN, DIGGIA NOT TOO FAR
Jorge Martin secured his third consecutive pole position of the year – after the ones claimed in Austin ad Jerez – at Le Mans today, courtesy of a 1’42.039secs lap-time that was almost half a second quicker than the previous Moto3 best lap at this track.
The rider #88 of Team Del Conca Gresini MotoGP, as he admitted after the end of qualifying, was both lucky and smart to be taking advantage of another rider’s slipstream – which helped him seal his 12th career-pole, now an all-time record for a Gresini rider.
Fabio Di Giannantonio did a good job, too, although he was slowed down by some traffic towards the end of qualifying after showing great speed throughout all free practice sessions. Despite an eighth-place start for tomorrow, his side of the garage oozes with confidence.
The fifth-round Moto3 World Championship race will get underway at 11:00 local time (GMT +2).
1st– JORGE MARTIN #88
“It was a difficult day as we struggled to find the right amount of grip at the rear-end of the bike, which was also yesterday’s problem. This morning I had a good pace with used tyres, but it was a lot tougher in the afternoon: we need something more in order to be able to play our cards right for the win tomorrow. Being on pole is great, although I must say I was a little bit lucky to be finding the right slipstream from Ramirez. I think tomorrow’s temperature will help, but there’s a lot of work to do in order to be ready for the race.”
8th – FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #21
“It was a good day: both this morning and in the afternoon we were quite on it, and we managed to stay near the front with a good pace. We were quick in qualifying, but unfortunately another rider managed to ruin our last quick-lap attempt, otherwise I could have been closer to the front of the grid. It will be a tough race because the KTM bikes are very fast here, but we’re ready and we’ll make our presence felt.”
