SECOND ROW FOR MARTIN AS DIGGIA IS ONLY 15TH IN QUALIFYING AT MOTEGI
The sixteenth qualifying session of the 2018 Moto3 World Championship was not an easy one for Team Del Conca Gresini Moto3, with their standard bearers Jorge Martin and Fabio Di Giannantonio only fourth and 15th, respectively, at the chequered flag.
The Spaniard – best qualified Honda rider today – narrowly missed out on a front-row start by just one tenth of a second, although he still has his main rival for the title Bezzecchi in sight. Despite a good pace on the longer one, Martin was unable to find that little extra on the single lap, but in tomorrow’s race – which will get underway at 11:00 local time (GMT +9) – he will be in the position to battle for top honours.
Only three are bikes in the top-10 are Hondas, with Fabio Di Giannantonio all the way down to 15thposition and seventh tenths away from Rodrigo’s pole position. The Italian logged his personal best lap-time in his second attempt and failed to improve in the following 11thlaps. Another comeback will be needed from Diggia tomorrow.
4th– JORGE MARTIN #88
“This was another positive day. I basically lapped on my own the whole time and found a good race pace and a great feeling. Too bad for qualifying as we tried a set-up change that didn’t give us what we were expecting; we will try to find a solution about it tomorrow during warm up. In any case we’re ready for the race and we’ll try to capitalise as much as possible.”
15th– FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #21
“This morning we worked well and I must say that race-pace wise we’re good. Unfortunately in the afternoon without slipstream it’s hard to get a good lap-time and as I was riding on my own, luck wasn’t on my side. Tomorrow it’ll be about making another comeback, but the goal stays the same. I feel good and we’ll surely give it a try!”
