Fourth row for Espargaro & Oliveira after San Marino MotoGP™ qualifier

MotoGP 2020 - Round 06, Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli (San Marino, Italy)



Espargaro and Styrian GP winner Oliveira make the Q1 cut to Q2 but Espargaro crashes in fast lap attempt


Brad Binder and Iker Lecuona to occupy 16th and 18th grid positions respectively


Three KTM RC4s in the top seven of Moto3 with Andrea Migno in 4th


 
The first of nine MotoGP rounds in the next eleven weeks began with a sunny Qualification session at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. The Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini represents the opening event of two back-to-back races at the resurfaced but bumpy eastern Italian venue.
 
After setting decent pace through Free Practice Espargaro made a mistake in FP3 that meant he had to head into Q1 early Saturday afternoon. The Spaniard emerged as the fastest rider with his KTM RC16 in the session but was then limited with tire choice for Q2. A fall at Turn 15 ended his push for the first two rows. Teammate Brad Binder enjoyed a much faster pace compared to his test appearance at Misano in June but the South African still needed to work on optimum race bike set-up and did not make the Q2 selection.
 
Red Bull KTM Tech3 duo Miguel Oliveira and Iker Lecuona both caught the eye during Friday and Saturday. The Portuguese slotted behind Espargaro in Q1 and also classified on his brandmates rear wheel at the second attempt in Q2. Lecuona reached as high as 4th fastest in FP2 on Friday but an error in FP3 proved costly and he couldn’t find the same speed through Q1.
 
The MotoGP race consists of 27 laps of the 4.2km layout at 14.00 CET on Sunday.
 
Pol Espargaro: “The same thing: when you know you have to go to Q1 then you don’t have any tyres for Q2. I was in Q2 with a used Front, with nine laps on it already, and a new rear. I was coming around for a similar fast lap-time for the second row but I lost the front. Our problem started in FP3 where I made a mistake. It’s been a little tougher than usual to focus this weekend so far and it cost me to go to the Q2. We would have been on the second row with our Q1 lap-time but it didn’t happen again. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
 
Brad Binder: “Difficult day today. We tried a lot with the set-up and found some things that improved the feeling but in some areas we did not quite get everything together as I would have like for qualifying. The good thing is that I have a very clear idea of what I want tomorrow. I think we can try it in Warm-up. It wasn’t a great qualifying but I know we can be better in the race for sure.”
 
Miguel Oliveira: “It was a good day of work today. We didn’t manage to do a decent time attack in FP3, so we had to go through Q1. We got through, which was nice. Then in Qualifying 2, I had only one soft tire, so I waited until the end to go out. I pushed, did my two good laps, which were close to my personal best, but not enough to be closer to the front, at least in the second or third row. The race is tomorrow, anyway, so hopefully we can have a good start to fight for the top positions.”
 
Iker Lecuona: “Today has been a really difficult day for me. In FP3 I started with used tires and did a long run to check the pace for the race. This pleased me a lot because I managed to go fast with used tires. Later when I wanted to push for a lap time in order to go direct to a Q2 spot, I crashed and then I went out with the second bike but I couldn’t do anything to improve. In Qualifying, I felt good with the bike. I pushed a lot, therefore I don’t understand, why the lap time was just not coming. I need to check the data to understand this. The important day is tomorrow. I have a good pace for the race, so I stay optimistic.”
 
Moto2 & Moto3
 
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Raul Fernandez was 6th fastest in Moto3 Q2 and just over 0.2 seconds away from a third consecutive Pole Position. The Spaniard was the second-best KTM racer as Andrea Migno placed his KTM RC4 in 4th and at the front of the second row. In Moto2 Red Bull KTM Ajo Tetsuta Nagashima was 9th in the Q2 session. Jorge Martin was declared unfit to race after a positive COVID-19 test and is taking the appropriate safety measures to make a healthy return to action.
 
Races: September 13th 23rd, 2020 – Moto3 11.00 | Moto2 12.20 | MotoGP 14.00 CET
 
Results Qualifying MotoGP Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini 2020
 
1. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Yamaha 1:31.411
2. Franco Morbidelli (ITA) Yamaha +0.312
3. Fabio Quartararo (FRA) Yamaha +0.380
4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha +0.466
5. Jack Miller (AUS) Ducati +0.641
11. Pol Espargaro (ESP) Red Bull KTM +0.855
12. Miguel Oliveira (POR) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.912 
16. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM (Q1) 1:32.524
18. Iker Lecuona (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 (Q1) 1:32.838
 
Results Qualifying Moto2 Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini 2020
 
1. Sam Lowes (GBR) 1:36.170
2. Remy Gardner (AUS) +0.254
3. Luca Marini (ITA) +0.326
9. Tetsuta Nagashima (JPN) Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.848
 
Results Qualifying Moto3 Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini 2020
 
1. Ai Ogura (JPN) Honda 1:42.403
2. Gabriel Rodrigo (ARG) Honda +0.016
3. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Honda +0.031
6. Raul Fernandez (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.253
 
Contact:
Press & PR Manager
Sebastian Kuhn
+43 676 599 0084
sebastian.kuhn@ktm.com