After a very auspicious Friday, Loris Baz and the Avintia Racing team started the day today with the same momentum. The Frenchman set his best time in 2'04.576 on his penultimate fast lap of the third free practice session. 8th time in the combined classification, Loris was selected for Q2 for the first time since his arrival in the premier category.
The qualifying session did not go as he had expected, but the Haut-Savoyard is now impatient to start from 12th position on the starting grid for the Grand Prix of the Americas. Loris' main objective is to confirm the clear progression initiated since the opening of the season.
« This day was really good. I drove at a good pace during the third free practice session this morning. I finished 8th and qualified directly for Q2. In the meantime, it rained and the track had changed. During the last free session, we tried to run with the hard tire, but my feeling was not quite the same as with the soft tire, the grip had changed on corner entry.
During Q2, I was not able to find the same pace as this morning. During one of my fast laps, I lost a little time due to a false neutral. It's not the best qualification, but it's the first of my career in MotoGP. What's important is that the pace is good. Tomorrow, we will have to drive intelligently to conserve the tires. Our choice of tires is almost fixed. I will try to get a good start to follow the right pace, while making sure to save my tires as much as possible. The objective is always the same: to score points."
