CHESTE QUALIFYING: ALCOBA FROM FIFTH ROW, RODRIGO TAKEN OUT
A day to forget quickly for Team Kömmerling Gresini Moto3 with Jeremy Alcoba and Gabriel Rodrigo unable to shine in this mixed-weather Saturday.
Gabriel Rodrigo was particularly unlucky: this morning, during FP3, the rain came and took away all chances for a direct seed to Q2. In the afternoon, instead, few seconds after the start of Q1 he was hit at turn ten by former teammate Rossi. With his bike destroyed, there was no chance to set any lap time for the Argentine, who will line up on the last position on the grid tomorrow morning for the penultimate race of the season.
Jeremy Alcoba, who did well in clinching Q2 yesterday, had a strong start to today’s final session as he was eyeing at some point the front row. His 1’38.979secs lap time set on the first lap places him on the 15th place of the grid of the #ValenciaGP, getting underway at 11:00 local time (GMT +1).
15th – JEREMY ALCOBA (1’38.979)
“I’m not happy because I know we could have been a lot closer to the front of the grid. In the second time attack we could have done a lot better, but an opponent was kind of in the way and slowed us down. It’s clear that we have to improve a lot on Saturday if we want to aim to be protagonists on Sunday.”
30th – GABRIEL RODRIGO (No Time Set)
“Luckily I’m not hurt but it’s been a frustrating season. This morning’s rain and then the crash in Q1 took away all chances to do well. Tomorrow we’ll have to start from the last place on the grid, on a track where overtaking is difficult. It’ll be a difficult race and I’ll have to take more risks, but we’ll have to try without losing our mind.”