| Front row start for Pecco Bagnaia, second in qualifying for the Catalan GP at Montmelo’. Jack Miller eleventh quickest |
Pecco Bagnaia will start from the front row in tomorrow's Catalan GP at the Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya. After gaining direct access to Q2 by finishing FP3 with the fourth-fastest time overall, the rider from Turin was able to pull off a near-perfect "time attack" in qualifying, finishing in 1:38.773, in second place, just 31 thousandths off the pole position of Aleix Espargaro. For Bagnaia, this will be the fourth time he will start from the front row in a race in the 2022 MotoGP season.
On the other hand, Jack Miller will start from the fourth row tomorrow. The Australian rider, who had made it straight into Q2 thanks to a fifth fastest time overall after FP3, continued to suffer from a lack of rear grip today and could go beyond the 11th fastest time (1:39.523) in qualifying.
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) - 2nd (1:38.773)
"We finished very close to Aleix Espargaro, but unfortunately, I lost a little time in the fourth sector because of traffic. Anyway, I am delighted with this qualifying session and the work we did in FP4. In terms of race pace, we got a little closer to Aleix, who I consider the man to beat tomorrow. Fabio Quartararo also took a step forward today. For tomorrow's race, it's difficult to prepare a strategy: the temperatures should be higher than today, and so the track conditions will be slightly different. It will be important to know how to manage the rear tyre well to be competitive in the final stages of the race."
Jack Miller (#43 Ducati Lenovo Team) - 11th (1:39.523)
"I suffered a lot today in qualifying with both soft tyres: I tried to make the most of them, but the lack of grip on the rear didn't allow me to ride as I wanted. It's hard to say whether the problem was due to the tyre choice or our setup, but we will continue to work and analyse today's data to improve further and be ready for tomorrow's race. It is difficult to predict what kind of race it will be, but we will certainly try as always to do our best."
The MotoGP riders will be back on track tomorrow at 9:40am for the warm-up, while the race for the ninth Grand Prix of the 2022 season will start at 2pm CEST over the 24-lap distance. |
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