UNFORTUNATE Q2 FOR RODRIGO AT MISANO
Gabriel Rodrigo was unable to make the most of his speed at Misano World Circuit today and leaves Q2 with a bitter taste in his mouth. The Argentine rider of Team Kömmerling Gresini Moto3 was among the favourites for pole position after setting the so-far quickest time of the weekend in 1’42.1secs – which sent him to the top of the timesheets in FP3.
Unfortunately for him, things were not as good: in his first outing, the #19 went slightly over the green stripe outside the kerb – meaning his potentially promising lap-time was cancelled. Following a pit-stop, the same type of happening unfolded at the last turn during his final lap – with Rodrigo relegated to the 18thplace on the grid with no valid lap-time recorded. This is a significant setback for the returning rider, who has been without a doubt the quickest of all the Moto3 field so far this weekend.
Riccardo Rossi also had a challenging performance as this morning he missed a great chance to get access to Q2: his starting grid position at the home GP (21st) is still the personal best claimed so-far by the young Italian rider.
18th– GABRI RODRIGO #19
“A qualifying session to forget, especially given the expectations. Maybe I had a little bit too much pressure, but the real problem is that with the lack of slipstream I had to open the throttle a bit earlier on corner exit and because of this the bike was sliding a lot. In the only two quick-lap attempts I ended up on the green strip – a thing that normally never happens to me – so we need to put together a good comeback now. The race pace is good and I’m not worried, but we could have started a lot closer to the front.”
21st– RICCARDO ROSSI #54
“This morning we worked hard ahead of the race and I’m really confident to be able to battle for the top-15. Unfortunately this morning we couldn’t find the perfect lap. I was behind Gabri when he put together the quickest time but I had to close the throttle due to another rider and lost almost a second in two corners. We would have been in Q2 otherwise and we would be talking in a very different way now… too bad.”
