Pol Espargaró was hoping for more from this Saturday at Silverstone. His Friday was promising and the KTM official assured that if he was not already in Q2, it was because of Sylvain Guintoli's carelessness in full trajectory which had spoiled his best lap. Unfortunately, this second day of the British Grand Prix denied Johann Zarco's teammate entry into the top 10. The fault of a cursed sector 4…
Pol Espargaro will rush 13e for the British Grand Prix. He could therefore be frustrated to count himself among the first eliminated from Q1, but as he took more than three tenths from Alex Rins, he doesn't really have any regrets but a question: why was this time wasted only in sector 4 of the route? The fact of remaining first among the RC16s hardly consoles him. Especially since they are right behind him, with zarco et Olive tree.
The brother of an Aleix who experienced Q2 with his Aprilia explain : " after Friday, I hoped to qualify directly for Q2 during FP3. I expected to be a little faster in FP3. All the opponents rode very fast, but I thought I could already set a low time of 1'59 in FP3. But we lost too much time in the last two corners of the fourth sector. We are doing very well in the first three sectors. But when I compare my data with that of Miguel or Johann, in sector 4, I still lose 0,3 seconds in two turns, while I am fast everywhere else. Exactly those 0,3 seconds that I missed to get into Q2. I should have been ahead of Álex Rins… »
« We need to get to work now » thunders the KTM official. “ But Saturday is already over, we only have Sunday morning and its 20 minutes of warm-up. It's already late, I'm curious what we can improve now, so that I waste less time in turns 17 and 18 ».
Pol Espargaro adds: " it's especially bad at turn 18. I don't know what's going on there, but as soon as I touch the accelerator and open the throttle to 70 or 80%, the front wheel threatens to spin. The front wheel then wants to lock, it doesn't want to turn in the curve, so I can't turn fast enough. As a result, I cannot go aggressively and quickly to the gas. I just can't hold the ideal line, it somehow lacks grip. That's why I pay stupid three tenths in two stupid curves. These are not difficult curves. I don't know why we leave so much time there ».
MotoGP Great Britain Silverstone J2: times
| 1 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | 1'58.168 | ||
| 2 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'58.596 | 0.428 | 0.428 |
| 3 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'58.602 | 0.434 | 0.006 |
| 4 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'58.612 | 0.444 | 0.010 |
| 5 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'58.670 | 0.502 | 0.058 |
| 6 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'58.762 | 0.594 | 0.092 |
| 7 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'58.762 | 0.594 | |
| 8 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'59.096 | 0.928 | 0.334 |
| 9 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'59.243 | 1.075 | 0.147 |
| 10 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'59.427 | 1.259 | 0.184 |
| 11 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'59.487 | 1.319 | 0.060 |
| 12 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | 1'59.620 | 1.452 | 0.133 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'58.944 | ||
| Q2 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'59.190 | 0.246 | 0.246 |
| 13 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | 1'59.549 | 0.605 | 0.359 |
| 14 | 5 | johann zarco | KTM | 1'59.648 | 0.704 | 0.099 |
| 15 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'59.758 | 0.814 | 0.110 |
| 16 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'59.916 | 0.972 | 0.158 |
| 17 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 2'00.240 | 1.296 | 0.324 |
| 18 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 2'00.362 | 1.418 | 0.122 |
| 19 | 50 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | Suzuki | 2'00.660 | 1.716 | 0.298 |
| 20 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | 2'00.700 | 1.756 | 0.040 |
| 21 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | 2'01.562 | 2.618 | 0.862 |
| 22 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 2'04.845 | 5.901 | 3.283 |
