RODRIGO LEADS WITH RECORD LAP, ALCOBA INSIDE THE TOP FIVE
Plenty of things have happened in today’s free practice session for the Moto3 World Championship at Jerez, and with more reasonable temperatures (31°C on the track this morning at 9:00 and up to 56°C in FP2) Gabriel Rodrigo logged a 1’45.663secs lap time which granted him the new outright lap record for the class on the Andalusian track (the previous one was still his and was set in 2019 – 1’45.745secs).
The Moto3 rookie Jeremy Alcoba also performed really well by finishing fifth overall with a half-second gap from his teammate, which grants him – for now – a direct access to tomorrow’s #SpanishGP Q2 (which will start at 13:00 GMT+2).
Rodrigo had a little scary moment in the afternoon as it was forced to a heavy braking manoeuvre to avoid Antonelli who crashed right in front of him. The standard bearer of Team Kömmerling Gresini Moto3 managed to get away from a potential dramatic situation and overall he also showed a great pace – while being the quickest rider also in the afternoon session.
1st – GABRIEL RODRIGO #2 – 1’45.663
“I’m very happy, especially not to have lost the pace we had in the preseason. We tried many tyre options and I was able to be the quickest in both session, which hasn’t happened in a long time and it’s really pleasing. Looking like the preparation work is bearing fruits and both track record and the long run make us hope for the best for this weekend. The race will be at a different time compared to free practice and we’ll need to find the perfect set-up, but for now we’re only focused about tomorrow’s qualifying.”
5th – JEREMY ALCOBA #52 – 1’46.189
“We got here with pretty clear ideas and straight from the get-go we managed to get back on Wednesdays’ times despite a soft front tyre and a hard rear one. The time came with a medium tyre at the front and a soft at the rear. In the afternoon we didn’t use any other tyre, we played on our race pace a bit and I think we did a good job. We can get into Q2 directly and this is a very important target because it’s not difficult to overtake here at Jerez – although you have to take some risks. The starting position will therefore be very important.”
