The Aprilia rider has proven to be very comfortable in all conditions since yesterday and managed to achieve a good qualifying which will be important for tomorrow.
Aleix Espargaró had a very good weekend and a great performance for Aprilia. Indeed, after all the difficulties encountered, the situation seems to have improved a little and its results since yesterday tend to prove it. He first finished eleventh in FP1 before finishing an excellent fifth in FP2. Friday had already been very positive, but the Spanish driver continued his momentum today.
Despite a crash at the very end of FP3, he managed to advance to Q2 with his second bike before finishing fourth in FP4. Things therefore seemed on track for the eldest of the Espargaró brothers to achieve a good qualification and that is what he did. Despite some difficulties, he qualified in eighth position, just three tenths from pole.
He therefore achieved his third best performance of the year after his two seventh places in Argentina and Assen: “I'm happy with how the weekend has gone so far, and not just for my performance today because already yesterday we were competitive in the wet. This morning, during FP3, I fell in the very last minutes. I ran to the box and managed to set the ninth time and qualify for Q2 with my second bike. This is positive and very important. In qualifying I then struggled in the first corner but despite this we finished only three tenths from pole. My RS-GP worked well, both on dry and wet tracks, we have good pace and that makes me confident for the race. I'm also happy with all the data we're collecting for next week's testing and for the 2019 bike."
Valencia Grand Prix, Ricardo Tormo, MotoGP, J.2: Ranking.
1 25 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 1'31.312
2 42 Alex RINS Suzuki 1'31.380 0.068 0.068
3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 1'31.392 0.080 0.012
4 9 Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 1'31.414 0.102 0.022
5 93 Marc MARQUEZ Honda 1'31.442 0.130 0.028
6 44 Pol ESPARGARO KTM 1'31.577 0.265 0.135
7 29 Andrea IANNONE Suzuki 1'31.629 0.317 0.052
8 41 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 1'31.630 0.318 0.001
9 26 Dani PEDROSA Honda 1'32.140 0.828 0.510
10 43 Jack MILLER Ducati 1'32.145 0.833 0.005
11 5 Johann ZARCO Yamaha 1'32.179 0.867 0.034
12 51 Michele PIRRO Ducati 1'32.310 0.998 0.131
Q1 Results:
Q2 29 Andrea IANNONE Suzuki 1'31.382
Q2 25 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 1'31.858 0.476 0.476
13 99 Jorge LORENZO Ducati 1'31.900 0.518 0.042
14 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 1'31.928 0.546 0.028
15 21 Franco MORBIDELLI Honda 1'32.385 1.003 0.457
16 46 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 1'32.452 1.070 0.067
17 12 Thomas LUTHI Honda 1'32.545 1.163 0.093
18 17 Karel ABRAHAM Ducati 1'32.547 1.165 0.002
19 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati 1'32.568 1.186 0.021
20 6 Stefan BRADL Honda 1'32.708 1.326 0.140
21 55 Hafizh SYAHRIN Yamaha 1'32.749 1.367 0.041
22 38 Bradley SMITH KTM 1'33.011 1.629 0.262
23 81 Jordi TORRES Ducati 1'34.427 3.045 1.416
24 45 Scott REDDING Aprilia 1'35.171 3.789 0.744
