The Frenchman will start from 23rd place on the starting grid for the Valencia Grand Prix, the last meeting of the season.
After a complicated opening day during which he experienced some difficulties in running his Ducati Desmosedici GP15, Loris Baz was determined to find solutions on Saturday morning in the face of higher temperatures than the day before. But new problems emerged, which prevented him from lowering his reference time during the third free practice session.
In qualifying, although Loris Baz managed to gain almost a second on his best time of the weekend, he still had to settle for 23rd place on the starting grid behind another Ducati, that of Scott Redding.
The conditions are expected to be similar, or even warmer, on Sunday, but the Frenchman says he is ready to fight to move up the hierarchy and leave the premier category on a good note.
Loris Baz (23nd – 1’31.775):
“We have not managed to take a step forward. We have evaluated a whole bunch of solutions, but we always run in equivalent times. I think the older Ducatis are suffering on this track. I still think that we have improved in terms of race pace, but I don't know if that will be enough to get the points. The settings we found make the bike very physical to ride. We managed to save time by improving the level of grip on entering and exiting curves, but this gain comes at the expense of handling... However, I hope to be able to follow the right group. I expect a longer race. As for tire choices, I've tried almost everything, but I'm thinking of going for the hard front and the medium at the rear. »
Qualification results:
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda
(RC213V) 1m 29.897s [Lap
3/6] 315km/h (Max)
2. Johann
Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1)* 1m 30.246s
+0.349s [7/8] 313km/h
3. Andrea
Iannone ITA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 30.399s
+0.502s [7/9] 316km/h
4. Jorge
Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (GP17) 1m 30.460s
+0.563s [2/5] 319km/h
5. Dani
Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 1m 30.589s
+0.692s [6/9] 318km/h
6. Michele
Pirro ITA Ducati Team (GP17) 1m 30.764s
+0.867s [6/7] 319km/h
7. Valentino
Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1m 30.848s
+0.951s [8/9] 313km/h
8. Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 30.857s +0.960s [4/8] 314km/h
9. Andrea
Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP17) 1m 30.961s
+1.064s [7/9] 321km/h
10. Alex
Rins ESP Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)* 1m 30.972s
+1.075s [2/9] 319km/h
11. Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 1m 31.044s +1.147s [3/7] 317km/h
12. Jack Miller AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 31.190s +1.293s [4/7] 321km/h
13. Maverick
Viñales ESP Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1m
31.030s 316km/h
14. Tito Rabat ESP EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 31.197s 315km/h
15. Danilo
Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac (GP17) 1m
31.216s 318km/h
16. Cal
Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 1m
31.297s 316km/h
17. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 1m 31.300s 317km/h
18. Karel
Abraham CZE Pull&Bear Aspar (GP15) 1m
31.325s 320km/h
19. Mika Kallio FIN Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 1m 31.361s 315km/h
20. Hector
Barbera ESP Reale Avintia (GP16) 1m
31.487s 324km/h
21. Alvaro
Bautista ESP Pull&Bear Aspar (GP16) 1m
31.578s 319km/h
22. Scott
Redding GBR Octo Pramac (GP16) 1m
31.625s 318km/h
23. Loris
Baz FRA Reale Avintia (GP15) 1m
31.775s 315km/h
24. Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* 1m 31.816s 313km/h
25. Michael Van Der Mark NED Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1m 32.504s 311km/h
*Rookie
Reference times:
Test record: 1'29.401 by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in 2016
Lap record: 1'31.171 by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in 2016
Best top speed: 335,9 km/h for Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in 2015
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 MARQUEZ Marc SPA 282 points
2 DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA 261
3 VIÑALES Maverick SPA 226
4 ROSSI Valentino ITA 197
5 PEDROSA Dani SPA 185
6 ZARCO Johann FRA 154
7 LORENZO Jorge SPA 137
8 PETRUCCI Danilo ITA 121
9 CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR 104
10 FOLGER Jonas GER 84
11 BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA 75
12 MILLER Jack AUS 73
13 REDDING Scott GBR 64
14 ESPARGARO Aleix SPA 62
15 IANNONE Andrea ITA 60
16 ESPARGARO Pol SPA 55
17 RINS Alex SPA 46
18 BAZ Loris FRA 45
19 ABRAHAM Karel CZE 30
20 RABAT Tito SPA 29
Ranking of independent drivers:
1 ZARCO Johann FRA 154 points
2 PETRUCCI Danilo ITA 121
3 CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR 104
Ranking of the best rookie (beginner):
1 ZARCO Johann FRA 154 points
2 FOLGER Jonas GER 84
3 RINS Alex SPA 46
4 LOWES Sam GBR 5
Classification by manufacturers:
1 HONDA 332 points
2 DUCATI 303
3 YAMAHA 301
4 SUZUKI 87
5 APRILIA 64
6 KTM 64
Team ranking:
1 REPSOL HONDA TEAM 467 points
2 MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP 423
3 DUCATI TEAM 398
4 MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 238
5 OCTO PRAMAC RACING 185
6 TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR 107
7 PULL&BEAR ASPAR TEAM 105
8 LCR HONDA 104
9 EG 0,0 MARC VDS 102
10 RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 79
11 REALE AVINTIA RACING 72
12 APRILIA RACING TEAM GRESINI 67
