#QATARGP: FIFTH ROW FOR BULEGA WITH PONS NOT FAR BEHIND
The first Moto2 qualifying session of 2020 saw Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2claiming the 15thand 17thspots on the grid at Losail with Nicolò Bulega and Edgar Pons. Two quite good results, which came with quite different circumstances.
Edgar Pons, who was 19thin yesterday’s combined times, had to go through Q1, but managed to be one of the four riders making it through to the “key” session. The Spaniard, which is making his debut with a Triumph-powered bike, managed to log an interesting 1’58.854secs lap-time, which he did not manage to repeat in Q2 as he finished 17thwith a clean second off pole position, albeit very close to the top-ten.
Nicolò Bulega, who on the other hand had shown some good signs with yesterday’s ninth place, could not finish any higher than 15thwith a best time of 1’58.785secs. It was quite an improvement from yesterday’s time, but not enough to get in the mix at the front.
A comeback will be needed for the standard bearers of Gresini Moto2, with the race scheduled to get underway at 18:00 local time (GMT +3).
15th– NICOLÒ BULEGA #11
“Unfortunately qualifying didn’t go as planned. We had some set-up issues and we were unable to fix them. Now we will go through the data available and we will try first of all to make the most of the warm-up session and then hopefully put together a good comeback. Fifteenth place does not reflect our potential and we’ll try to show it tomorrow on track.”
17th– EDGAR PONS #57
“I’m very happy, not for the final qualifying position itself which obviously not what we were looking for, but because I gave all I had and that was the important thing. We’re new with a new bike and it would be fantastic to be already near the front with the quickest riders: the reality is a bit difference and we must get there step by step. We managed to improve in each and every outing, and in Q1 I set a 58.8 that I couldn’t match in Q2. I must say, though, that we have a really excellent race pace and now we will rest in order to do our best tomorrow. As usual, I would like to thank the team who helped me a lot.”
