GRESINI MOTO2 RIDERS IN THE TOP TEN IN QUALIFYING
The riders of Team Gresini Racing Moto2 started the day with a display of great consistency in Practice2, as both earned a direct seed to Q2 at the Chang International Circuit. Albert Arenas then managed to string together a series of quick lap-times as he wrapped up qualifying in seventh place with a best time of 1’34.918secs – only 19 hundredths of a second shy of pole position.
His teammate Manuel Gonzalez rounded out the top ten. The Spanish rider could not complete the perfect lap, but still managed to save the day courtesy of a 1’35.033secs set at the start of the session, which translated in a tenth place. The frontrunners are all very tight together, though: a good start will therefore be key to be able to battle for a good result, in a 22-lap race that will be very demanding in light of the high temperatures expected for tomorrow.
7th – ALBERT ARENAS #75 (1’34.918)
“It was another day with our heads down and hard work. We continued with the same strategy in Practice2, as we mainly lapped with used tyres. We made a good step forward in qualifying: I managed to set more than one strong lap and I feel we still have margin for improvement in the third sector. We’ll try to get a good start tomorrow and be consistent in the race: it’ll be a long and hot encounter, but we’ll do our best to make the most of these difficult conditions, in which we’re normally strong.”
10th – MANUEL GONZALEZ #18 (1’35.033)
“I’m not happy with today’s result. Feeling-wise we made a step forward with the bike, but we couldn’t put together a good lap which we know we could have had, and that we wanted to. I believe we can still have a good race tomorrow and battle for a good result: we’re all very close, so a good start and a strong opening lap will be key in order to have an easier pace.”
