Tough qualifying for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teams at San Marino Grand Prix QUALIFYING 13TH Rd. MotoGP 2017 – Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli (SMR) MotoGP Misano was one of the circuits where the Red Bull KTM Factory MotoGP team had tested at during the week of Silverstone, so a baseline setting had been set as the weekend started but with slippery conditions yesterday following rain meant that feedback from the surface was different from the test. Pol Espargaro flew in qualifying and was about to start his final fast lap but toppled off at Turn 2 on his last run. He was on his feet in seconds, uninjured and will start 17th in tomorrow's race. Bradley Smith had traffic and some yellow flag problems in his qualifying session so was limited to a 22nd place. Both KTM RC16s have been quick in acceleration and top speed this weekend while the team works on the front setting.   Espargaro: "It's been a bit difficult here as I was caught a little between the soft and the medium tyre which is a little strange. Normally, the soft is the tyre for Saturday afternoon but today it was moving too much through the fast corners. The medium was not too hard but...it's giving me a strange feeling. That's really odd as the track temperature this afternoon was 50 celsius, but I couldn't use it. Hopefully the conditions are a little bit different tomorrow as when we came here for the test before Silverstone the conditions were completely different from today. Different tyre, settings, electronics has been the order of today so what had at the test hasn't transferred over with these conditions."  Smith: "I was quite happy with today with the race pace in FP4. I could do the lap time on both sets of tyres so that was good as we've covered ourselves for tomorrow. In qualifying I wanted to do three laps but people had rolled off after two then on the second run there was a yellow flag. I feel more competitive today than yesterday and feel that the race – wet or dry – I'm looking forward to it. I stood on the podium the last time I raced here so I'm confident whatever the weather." Sebastian Risse (Technical Director MotoGP): "Today is again proof that this year is so close in terms of times but a gap of around one second is something achievable for us and then the position is whatever is in qualifying and the race. This is our base target over the last few races and something we've been hitting. We are good with acceleration here, as we have done all season in fact with both riders, but we've been limited a little by movement of the tyre and getting the front of the bike to work to our liking. It just seems to be that, rather than an on going problem; conditions to get the front working."  Moto2 As the Red Bull KTM Ajo team make their debut here with the KTM Moto2 motorcycle, Miguel Oliveira, who took a podium here in Moto3 two years ago, qualified ninth, less than 6/10ths of a second back of the pole position in a near 100 second lap. He expected to be a little higher, but he's happy after not being so close on Saturday morning. Brad Binder, Moto3 race winner here 12 months ago, qualified seventeenth as he looks to attack through the field on the opening lap as he's done in recent races.   Oliveira: "After yesterday my expectations for qualifying were a little higher, but I'm happy. Seeing how the practice went this morning, finishing half a second off pole isn't at all bad. In FP3 we made a change to the bike that didn't end up working out, and it all combined: The situation on track, the grip level... Nothing turned out well for us. In the afternoon we knew that the grip would drop a little, and we tried to make the most of it to improve in such conditions. There's still work to do, but tomorrow we will give our all to take a good result. I'm not worried about if there's rain tomorrow, because it's a bit of a lottery and will affect all of us equally." Binder: "Qualifying didn't turn out as we had initially planned. I can take away the fact that I don't have a bad pace and I can ride consistently – although I feel that I'm a little on the limit. We have to change some things with the bike so that I can feel there is more room for improvement. Overall, it's neither the best, nor the worst result. Tomorrow when the race starts I know that I will be well prepared, and I believe that I can gain positions. I'd obviously prefer tomorrow's race to be dry, but if it's wet then it doesn't change anything; we will give 100% and see what we can do." Moto3 Niccolo Antonelli, a podium man here two years ago, started the weekend well yesterday with a top ten position, while today the local rider from Cattolica made a huge step forward with much more speed to improve to eighth position on the grid for tomorrow's race. Close on his heels was team mate Bo Bendsneyder in ninth to make it four KTM RC250 GPs inside the top ten for what is sure to be another close, trademark, Moto3 Grand Prix. The leading KTM was Gabriel Rodrigo who continues his strong qualifying pace from Brno to date. KTM have won four times at Misano from the five years that Moto3 has been running.   Italian Kevin Zannoni is a wild card here this weekend riding his Althea KTM with which he leads the Italian Moto3 Championship, the CIV. He turned 17 years old yesterday.   Rodrigo: "It was once again a positive day. This morning we put in another long run on used tyres and also today we were within the times we had set as objective. Then we changed to new tyres and we checked some other ideas for the setting of the bike, but we didn’t really like them. For the QP, we chose to go back to what we had used yesterday and I had a great feeling straight away. At the beginning of the qualifying I could set a fast lap, which helped to stay calm and to maintain a confident pace throughout the practice. I was competitive both on my own as well as when following other riders. On the last run I gave it all: I was really fast, there was an option to get another pole position. In the last sector I made a mistake and I crashed out. It’s a shame, but at least we had set a competitive lap earlier on and that put us in sixth position, the second row for tomorrow. Now we’ll check the data and we’ll have a look at what happened in the crash. I’d like to send my best wishes to Livio Loi: I hope he is alright, after crashing into my bike."   Antonelli: "We’ve got a good position for the grid tomorrow; eighth place is not bad. I’m also happy because we met the goal we set out for ourselves yesterday, to be on one of the first three rows. There are points on the track where we are very fast, and others where we aren’t so quick. I don’t think that tomorrow will be easy; it will be a very hard race and we are going to have to do our best to be competitive and attack from the opening lap. There are a lot of strong riders and I think the race will be run in a group, with 10 or 12 riders fighting for the win. It won’t be like it was two years ago when I got a podium here. The weather is also an unknown, so we'll see." Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Ai Ogura took his second win of the season with a perfectly judged final lap at Misano to lead Kazuki Masaki and Aleix Viu across the line. Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup points leader Can Öncü crashed out of the lead battle on the second lap and thus handed the championship advantage to Masaki with Viu still third. The trio head to the final weekend in Aragon to sort out the Cup while Ogura, the 16-year-old Japanese to concentrate on winning races. “It was a hard race. Viu is very good on the brakes and Masaki was also fast. I could not get away from them and had to do it on the last lap. I timed my pass perfectly and managed to stay ahead. The bike was great, very happy with it and I really enjoyed the race,” concluded Ogura giving his KTM RC 250 RB an appreciative stroke. With a bigger smile, 17-year-old fellow Japanese Masaki revelled in his position at the head of the points table. “That is the most important thing. I wanted to win the race and I did everything I could. I pushed very hard from the start but Ogura and Viu caught me, it was a hard battle. At the end I lined up and passed Viu at the end of the straight but Ogura was just too far in front for me to get him too. I am leading the points for the first time and I know it will be a hard fight in Aragon.”   Races: September 10, 2017 – Moto3 11:00 | Moto2 12:20 CET | MotoGP 14:00 Results Qualifying MotoGP Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli 2017  1. Maverick Vinales (ESP), Yamaha, 1:32.439 min 2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA), Ducati, +0.162 sec 3. Marc Marquez (ESP), Honda, +0.197 4. Cal Crutchlow (GBR), Honda, +0.329 5. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP), Ducati, +0.353 KTM 17. Pol Espargaro (ESP), KTM, +1.641  22. Bradley Smith (GBR), KTM, +2.278 Results Qualifying Moto2 Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli 2017 1. Mattia Pasini (ITA), Kalex, +1:37.390 min 2. Franco Morbidelli (ITA), Kalex, +0.083 sec 3. Dominique Aegerter (SUI), Suter, +0.333 4. Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA), Kalex, +0.344 5. Takaaki Nakagami (JAP), Kalex, +0.387 KTM 9. Miguel Oliveira (POR), KTM, +0.593 17. Brad Binder (RSA), KTM, +0.943 Results Qualifying Moto3 Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli 2017 1. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Honda, 1:42.147 min 2. Jorge Martin (ESP), Honda, +0.173 sec 3. Joan Mir (ESP), Honda, +0.225 4. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA), Honda, +0.244 5. Romano Fenati (ITA), Honda, +0.326 KTM 6. Gabriel Rodrigo (ESP), KTM, +0.338 8. Niccolo Antonelli (ITA), KTM, +0.447 9. Bo Bendsneyder (NED), KTM, +0.448 10. Nicolo Bulega (ITA), KTM, +0.489 Results Race Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli 2017 All riders on KTM RC250 RB bikes 1. Ai Ogura (JAP), 30:10.864 min (17 laps) 2. Kazuki Masaki (JAP), +0.519 sec 3. Alex Viu (ESP), +0.665 4. Dan Öncü (TUR), +12.024 5. Filip Salac (CZE), +13.440 Standings Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup 2017 after 11 of 13 races 1. Masaki, 164 points 2. Can Öncü (TUR), 154 3. Viu (ESP), 142 4. D. Öncü, 112 5. Matthias Meggle (GER), 108 PHILIPP GRÜNBERGER PR MANAGER MOTOGP philipp.gruenberger@ktm.com 0043 664 6217921 www.motogp.com www.ktm.com | media.ktm.com  Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Instagram