CRAZY WEATHER, RODRIGO QUALIFIES FIFTH
#FrenchGP qualifying. Q2 is already a challenging session itself, but it was even more so today at Le Mans for Team Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3, who saw both its riders battling for pole. In a 15-minute span, the track went from being fully dry, then drenched by a sudden storm, and finally mixed conditions led to the end of the session: in this chaos came the fifth place by Gabriel Rodrigo – who was already among the fastest riders in free practice – for what was a very important result.
The Argentine rider did not take any unnecessary risk and played his cards right with wet tyres, and ultimately logged a 1’49.684secs lap-time and only a mistake on the final lap prevented him from taking a front-row seat – while his opponents were all on slicks.
Jeremy Alcoba did well and also had a bit of luck as he made it through Q1 by only 0.027s of margin (he was 4th) but then was unable to capitalise in Q2. The Spanish rider seem to be still limited by yesterday’s crash and the lack of feeling with this asphalt placed him in 17th place.
5th – GABRIEL RODRIGO #2 (1’49.684)
“It’s been a positive day, even though qualifying here are always a gamble. We opted for rain tyres even though I wasn’t fully comfortable, but we did well in not taking any risk and aiming at the second/third row. I made a big mistake on the final lap. Too bad, because we would be speaking about the front row now, but we’re ready for the race.”
17th – JEREMY ALCOBA #52 (1’54.034)
“We did a good lap in Q1, even though it was a matter of milliseconds. I wasn’t fully comfortable, but I enjoyed riding the bike. We went out with the rain tyre and I couldn’t make the most of the session so I’m a little angry with myself. Yesterday’s crash didn’t help and I’m still looking for the best feeling in order to push to the limit. We need to do a mental reset for the race.”
