In the whirlwind of Jorge Lorenzo's open succession at Honda, certain track facts go unnoticed in Valencia. And yet, they deserve to be highlighted. There is, for example, a Joan Mir who is ahead of his leader Alex Rins, promising a great atmosphere at Suzuki in 2020. But there is also, and above all, this performance from an Iker Lecuona who is actually doing his first laps on a MotoGP. And not just any bike: a KTM RC16. A challenge that the Spaniard takes on brilliantly. Here it is 19e out of 22 riders on the starting grid, and in front of two other KTMs!
One of which is that of his teammate Syahrin who made it all season. The other is the official one led by Rock. So that Iker Lecuona, at the age of 19, is the second driver from Mattighofen at the start of the Valencia Grand Prix, last meeting of the season…
The replacement of Miguel Oliveira, injured, had an impressive second day riding the KTM RC16 this Saturday. The young Spaniard improved in each session and completed his first session.
« The day went much better than yesterday. I progressed a lot in FP3 and I didn't finish last, I even had two KTMs behind me » Iker legitimately rejoices. “ I progressed and understood the bike a lot better. Additionally, I managed to follow other drivers on the track, which was very important. This afternoon during FP4, I worked on the distance and I was very consistent. »
« I know, I'm ready for my first race. In qualifying I tried to push as hard as I could and I was faster than expected, to be honest. I still left other drivers behind, so I'm very happy. »
MotoGP Valencia J2: times
| 1 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'29.978 | ||
| 2 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | 1'30.010 | 0.032 | 0.032 |
| 3 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'30.086 | 0.108 | 0.076 |
| 4 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'30.178 | 0.200 | 0.092 |
| 5 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'30.449 | 0.471 | 0.271 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'30.511 | 0.533 | 0.062 |
| 7 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1'30.573 | 0.595 | 0.062 |
| 8 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'30.595 | 0.617 | 0.022 |
| 9 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'30.726 | 0.748 | 0.131 |
| 10 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'30.771 | 0.793 | 0.045 |
| 11 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | 1'30.908 | 0.930 | 0.137 |
| 12 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'30.954 | 0.976 | 0.046 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'30.538 | ||
| Q2 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | 1'30.543 | 0.005 | 0.005 |
| 13 | 5 | johann zarco | Honda | 1'30.826 | 0.288 | 0.283 |
| 14 | 51 | Michael PIRRO | Ducati | 1'30.949 | 0.411 | 0.123 |
| 15 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | 1'30.972 | 0.434 | 0.023 |
| 16 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | 1'31.295 | 0.757 | 0.323 |
| 17 | 82 | Mika Kallio | KTM | 1'31.383 | 0.845 | 0.088 |
| 18 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'31.507 | 0.969 | 0.124 |
| 19 | 27 | Iker LECUONA | KTM | 1'31.658 | 1.120 | 0.151 |
| 20 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 1'31.714 | 1.176 | 0.056 |
| 21 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'31.815 | 1.277 | 0.101 |
| 22 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | 1'31.839 | 1.301 | 0.024 |
