RFRONT ROW FOR RODRIGO AT COTA
Gabriel Rodrigo has put together a great performance today at Austin as he claimed a spot on the front row of the grid after what was a surely challenging qualifying due to mixed track conditions.
The day did not get of the best way due to the postponement and then cancellation of FP3, due to inclement weather. Qualifying, therefore, gave a little more advantage to the riders who took part in Q1, as they had 15 more minutes of track time. The #19 of Team Kömmerling Gresini Moto3 played his cards right and chose the right time to attack as he logged the third-quickest time of the session and came seven tenths of a second short of Antonelli’s pole position. This is Rodrigo’s career 11thfront-row start, the first one on a Honda and with Team Gresini.
With no FP3 and a small number of laps completed, it has been a difficult Friday for Riccardo Rossi, who had to face his first qualifying at Circuit of the Americas under the rain – with no prior experience at the track and under these conditions. The Italian rider eventually finished 26th(2’40.118secs).
3rd– GABRIEL RODRIGO #19
“It has undoubtedly been a strange day. We haven’t turned a wheel until Q2 and that was our first-ever wet session for me on a Honda. The team helped me a lot as they had a clear idea of how to put me in the right conditions to perform, and things went well. It’s important to start at the front here to avoid any risk, so I’m very happy. I’m also very happy with what we did yesterday: our race pace on the dry was very good!”
26th– RICCARDO ROSSI #54
“This is the first time in wet conditions and as soon as Q1 started I had a big moment which cost me a lot of confidence. Lap after lap I was able to get it back a little, but with such short sessions it’s hard to get it back together. Looks like we will race on the dry tomorrow, so we’ll have to work hard because we struggled a lot yesterday. There’s also the question mark about tyres, so we’ll wait until warm up is completed to decide.”
