Espargaro takes pole to lead Suzuki 1-2 in record-breaking Catalan GP qualifying

Catalunya, 13 June 2015: Aleix Espargaro continued his superlative pace at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today as he seized pole position for the Catalan Grand Prix ahead of Team SUZUKI ECSTAR teammate Maverick Viñales.

Having been the quickest rider in yesterda

y’s practice sessions, Espargaro was able to up the ante today and in Qualifying Practice 2 set a lap time of 1’40.546 – the quickest ever lap around the Montmeló circuit, beating the existing Circuit Record Lap by three-tenths of a second. A mere 0.083 seconds behind him in second place was teammate and MotoGP rookie Viñales who secured his best premier-class qualifying result, while rounding out the front row was Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo who set a personal best time of 1’40.646. All three riders on the front row used the medium compound front slick to set their quickest time, and while Lorenzo used the medium compound rear on his hot lap, both Suzuki riders set their best times using the soft compound rear slick in a session in which the Circuit Best Lap record was broken four times in quick succession.

All sessions today were subjected to similar conditions to yesterday, with a mild start giving way to hot temperatures in the afternoon. Today’s peak track temperature was 49°C at the beginning of Free Practice 4, after which temperatures cooled slightly towards the end of QP2. The fine conditions allowed the riders to do further evaluation on different tyre combinations and following FP4 the medium compound front and rear slick combination is likely to be the most popular choice for tomorrow’s race. However, a number of open-class riders look set to opt for the soft compound rear slick, while the majority of Ducati riders appear to favour the hard compound front slick for the race, so tyre choice will be quite diverse for the twenty-five lap Catalan Grand Prix.

The weather forecast indicates ambient temperatures could be even warmer than qualifying for tomorrow’s race at 1400 local time (GMT +2). Before then, the riders will have one final chance to finalise their settings for the race in the twenty minute Warm Up session at 0940.

“The quick and highly competitive pace we saw yesterday continued today and the result was a record-breaking qualifying session. I am pleased that Aleix was able to set a 1’40.5 lap and the top four riders were able to lap quicker than the existing Circuit Best Lap record, as it shows that on a track surface that is getting bumpier and lower in grip every year, our tyre allocation provides excellent performance and control. At this stage, the medium compound front and rear slicks are preferred by the majority of riders but the soft compound rear and hard compound front will also figure on the grid for tomorrow’s race. What is evident after FP4 and qualifying today is that the pace over a single lap and also long runs among the top riders is very close.”