- Red heat for Augusto Fernandez who progresses through the sessions on Friday and Saturday to take 17th in the Sprint after making 19th in Quali.
- Pol Espargaro was eager to excel on home turf but the unlucky Catalan tumbles out of the action at Turn 5 in just his third appearance for the team this season.
- GASGAS bring Spanish red to round eleven of twenty and the first of a busy rush of Grands Prix in eight different countries in 13 weeks.
- David Alonso again shines in Moto3™ for GASGAS Aspar Racing with 12th on the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix while Jake Dixon leads the line in Moto2™ with his first Pole Position of the year!
Catalunya and San Marino on back-to-back weekends means a quick flurry of MotoGP on Spanish and Italian terrain before the series packs into the flight cases and discovers a range of countries to the east and into Asia. First-up was GASGAS’ vibrant local ground of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The thirty-year-old venue first hosted the Catalan stop in MotoGP in 1996 and witnessed a host of memorable races since.
Normally held in June, the later September date meant the Grand Prix experienced hot but adverse weather conditions as stormy clouds drifted in from the Mediterranean. Espargaro’s #44 RC16 was one of the fastest machines along the main straight and tripped the speed traps at more than 350kmph as the former Moto2 world champ tried to force his way into Q2 on Friday. He narrowly missed out but was roaming the boundaries of the top ten by only a few tenths of a second and then edged from Q2 by one tenth on Saturday! Reigning Moto2 #1 and rookie Augusto Fernandez was also working the throttle hard. The pair ended Quali with 14th and 19th respectively.
The 12-lap Sprint was frustratingly short for Pol. He was hit by another rider into the first corner, breaking his right winglet, and the issue affected the handling of the bike. He pushed to regain positions and quickly made it to 13th but lost his braking point into Turn 5 after four laps, ran into the gravel and crashed. Augusto was busy exploring the possibilities of the top fifteen but his efforts were restricted by the feeling he had with grip and traction. He took 17th for his trouble but with valuable information for the race bike setting ahead of the 24-lap distance tomorrow.
The MotoGP pack will count on a ‘red blur’ at 14.00 CEST on Sunday
Augusto Fernandez, 19th in qualifying, 17th in the Sprint: “Difficult day. I didn’t expect that much of a ‘drop’ from the front tire. I had a big fight with a few other riders and lost out at the end. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll find something that can help for the longer Grand Prix race and a better rhythm.”
Pol Espargaro, 14th in qualifying, DNF in the Sprint: “I started badly and in the first corner another rider made a mistake and cleared-out a lot of us. My right wing snapped away and I had a quite a lot of problems with stopping and stability. I recovered as best I could and passed riders but then braked a bit late into Turn 5 and that was it. Not much else to say. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Nicolas Goyon, GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Team Manager: “A difficult weekend so far at home. This track is very specific with the low grip conditions and the riders are suffering. Augusto struggled to find a consistent pace and we saw a couple of possible solutions during the Sprint. Hopefully we can make some changes and look for some points tomorrow. Pol was quite unlucky. He lost a wing after early contact and the bike was quite nervous. Out of Turn 4 he made a small mistake and went into the gravel. Anyway, his pace was quite good and he’s still confident for tomorrow’s race.”
Results Qualifying MotoGP Gran Premi de Catalunya
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati 1.38.639
2. Aleix Espargaro (ESP) Aprilia +0.104
3. Miguel Oliveira (POR) Aprilia +0.109
14. Pol Espargaro (ESP) GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 1:39.330 (Q1)
19. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 1:39.794 (Q1)
Results MotoGP Sprint Gran Premi de Catalunya
1. Aleix Espargaro (ESP) Aprilia 20:02.744
2. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati +1.989
3. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Aprilia +2.040
17. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 +16.534
DNF. Pol Espargaro (ESP) GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3
Moto3 and Moto2
GASGAS Aspar Team’s David Alonso waited until the final moments of Q2 to log his best lap-time and amongst a hectic group of riders all pushing for the best tow. The rookie was a mere eight tenths from P1 and ended the session in 12th. Teammate Ryusei Yamanaka couldn’t find the pace to scrape out of Q1 and the fast Japanese will instead attack the 18-lap Moto3 rush tomorrow from 22nd.
In Moto2 Jake Dixon achieved his first Pole Position of the season! The Brit emerged at the top of the time screens through a very tight Q2 chrono that saw 17 riders split by less than a second. Izan Guevara wasn’t able to piece together a lap out of Q1 and ranked 28th by the fall of the flag to bring Saturday’s program to an end.
Jake Dixon: “A fantastic job in qualifying. We struggled a bit yesterday and I couldn’t understand why; we couldn’t find the grip, but we put a new tire today and it solved all the problems. A massive credit to the GASGAS Aspar Racing team for keeping me calm! I cannot wait for tomorrow now.”
Gran Premi de Catalunya MotoGP photographs can be found HERE
Results Qualifying Moto3 Gran Premi de Catalunya
1. Ivan Ortola (ESP) KTM 1:48.205
2. Deniz Öncü (TUR), KTM +0.304
3. Joel Kelso (AUS) CFMOTO +0.358
12. David Alonso (COL) GASGAS Aspar Team +0.860
22. Ryusei Yamanaka (JPN) GASGAS Aspar Team 1:50.182 (Q1)
Results Qualifying Moto2 Gran Premi de Catalunya
1. Jake Dixon (GBR) GASGAS Aspar Team 1:44.089
2. Aron Canet (ESP) +0.095
3. Ai Ogura (JPN) +0.125
28. Izan Guevara (ESP) GASGAS Aspar Team 1:45.950 (Q1)
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