Press release
102KB
november 13, 2021 - Suzuki Racing
Second row start for Suzuki’s riders in grand finale
Team Suzuki Press Office – November 13.
Grid positions for Valencia GP:
Joan Mir: 4th – 1’30.395
Alex Rins: 6th – 1’30.475
Despite a slightly chilly start, the sun was shining in time for FP3 and improvements were to be had for the entire MotoGP™ field. Joan Mir and Alex Rins were working hard to try and bring down their lap times, putting in a couple of stops and tyre changes as well as tweaking the set-up.
The session, like many this season, became incredibly tight; all 21 riders covered by less than one second. Mir and Rins pushed on their final flying laps, and whilst mir was able to improve to fourth, Rins was left just outside the Top 10 in 11th.
FP4 was a standard session for the Suzuki squad, with both riders able to try out the harder tyre options ahead of tomorrow’s 27 lap race. They completed the 30 minute session with Rins in third and Mir in sixth, both riders felt confident and comfortable with their GSX-RRs.
Alex opted for the hard-soft combination to attack Q1; this worked well and he set a string of quick laps, the best of these being a 1’30.673 which saw him sail through to Q2.
Q2, the final qualifying session of 2021, was bound to be highly competitive and tightly packed. Both Suzuki riders took it in their stride, however, and were consistently pushing for ‘Top 5’ grid positions. Despite two yellow flags during the closing moments of the session in Sectors 1 and 3, Mir and Rins were able to demonstrate their strong pace; taking fourth and sixth respectively and therefore second row starts.
Joan Mir:
“I’m happy about qualifying today, we worked well and we missed out on the front row by a very small amount. We’re following the steps to have a stronger bike and a better package for next year. I’ve been feeling good all weekend and my pace is pretty strong, both with the used tyres and with the fresh ones. It gives me a boost that we were so close to the front row and I’m pleased to show my potential ahead of the final round. Tomorrow will be a special race with so many fans.”
Alex Rins:
“It was a good day for the team with both Joan and I pretty fast. My final laps in Q2 were disturbed by the two yellow flags, which was a bit of a shame, but it’s nice to be on the second row and I feel that I can get a good start. It’s tricky with all the Ducatis around, but I know our pace is strong. One thing is sure; we will give our all to have a great final race.”
Ken Kawauchi - Technical Manager:
“Finally today was a good day, in FP3 our riders improved quickly. Then we struggled a little bit because Alex was unable to go directly to Q2, but Joan was able to. However, Alex did a very good job in Q1 and he went into final qualifying with Joan. We had some yellow flags at the end of the session which impacted our flying laps a little bit, but we have both riders on the second row, which means we could show our good pace. Over race distance I think they can be strong.”
GRAN PREMIO MOTUL DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA – QUALIFYING:
1 Jorge MARTIN Pramac Racing 1'29.936
2 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 1'30.000 0.064 / 0.064
3 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 1'30.325 0.389 / 0.325
4 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1'30.395 0.459 / 0.070
5 Johann ZARCO Pramac Racing 1'30.418 0.482 / 0.023
6 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1'30.475 0.539 / 0.057
7 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1'30.509 0.573 / 0.034
8 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1'30.620 0.684 / 0.111
9 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1'30.644 0.708 / 0.024
10 Valentino ROSSI Petronas Yamaha SRT 1'30.746 0.810 / 0.102
11 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1'30.781 0.845 / 0.035
12 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'31.024 1.088 / 0.243
13 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Petronas Yamaha SRT 1'30.859 Q1
14 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'30.991 Q1
15 Iker LECUONA Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing 1'30.994 Q1
16 Danilo PETRUCCI Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing 1'31.045 Q1
17 Luca MARINI SKY VR46 Avintia 1'31.073 Q1
18 Enea BASTIANINI Avintia Esponsorama 1'31.185 Q1
19 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL 1'31.251 Q1
20 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1'31.319 Q1
44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Repsol Honda Team NO TIME SET
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