Mapfre Mahindra’s Pecco Bagnaia qualifies 8th, ready to fight at home race: Moto3
Mugello, 30 May 2014: The dominance of Italian riders in Moto3 was diluted slightly on Saturday, as a Frenchman led the way in the last free practice session and an Englishman took pole position at Mugello. In the morning the Moto3 times continued to drop. In qualifying the 1.56.999 fastest ever Moto3 lap at Mugello was eclipsed within 5 minutes. Kent, Antonelli, Oliveira and Fenati all exchanged places at the top of the timesheet, until the overall leader of the Moto3 class established an advantage of 7 tenths to clinch pole. Kent established a new fas
test lap of the Italian track with a 1:56.615 time.
The MAPFRE Team Mahindra riders could well feature in the leading group on Sunday. Pecco Bagnaia took a step back with his setup today after some unsatisfactory tests on Day 1, and regained a good feeling with his bike. The Italian concluded qualifying in eighth, nine tenths off the fastest time. The Italian feels he has the right setup to fight in the leading group during the twenty laps of his home race.
Teammate Juanfran Guevara will start from fourteenth, having set a time nearly three tenths slower. He is confident that his hard work and strong pace will bring a good result tomorrow.
The youngest rider for MAPFRE Team Mahindra, Jorge Martín, ended the final practice session in fifth place, just two tenths off the best time, but lost feeling in qualifying and placed twentieth. He hopes that a comeback is possible on raceday.
8th Pecco Bagnaia 1.57.529 (15 laps): “We are 9 tenths off the best time, but it’s just a shame that on the last lap we lost time in the third sector. In any case we cannot complain, because we set a good time and have enough pace to have a good race tomorrow and be in the lead group. It is going to be a tough race, because many riders are riding quickly and the leading group will be large. We’ll have to be clever on the straight in order to benefit from the slipstream and not be penalised compared to other riders. The only way will be to attack and attack in order to try to get as high up as possible, and try to avoid problems. I hope it will be a lot of fun. Yesterday we tried something we didn’t like, but this morning we took a step back and now my feeling is magnificent. The aim is to fight and try to get the best possible result; we are at home, in Italy, so I hope to get a good result for my family, the team and the fans.”
eom/Mapfre Mahindra team release
