THE FASTEST ANYONE HAS EVER BEEN ON A MOTORCYCLE ON THE SPANISH CIRCUIT

MAVERICK VIÑALES IS FIRST IN Q1 AND WILL START FROM THE THIRD ROW

THIS CONFIRMS APRILIA RACING'S GRAND FORM ON QUALIFYING DAY AS WELL

After dominating practice on Friday, Aprilia Racing confirms the outstanding performance on qualifying day as well. Aleix Espargaró broke the Spanish track record twice to take the second pole position of this year.

With this performance, Aleix confirmed the excellent impressions he had been giving from the outset of the weekend, riding his RS-GP admirably and taking full advantage of its performance in the difficult low-grip conditions of the Catalunya track. After setting the new track record in the last practice session (obviously finishing it in first place), he managed to do even better in qualifying, stopping the clock at a time of 1’38.742 for the new track record and the fourth pole position of his career.

Yet again, Q2 seemed to be cursed for Maverick Viñales, knocked out of the top ten by just 10 thousandths of a second. However, this time Maverick redeemed himself straight away, dominating the first qualifying session and going through to Q2 where he finished with a spot on the third row and a time of 1’39.397.

ALEIX  ESPARGARÓ
1st - 1'38.742
"What qualifiers! It’s nice to be ahead of the rest here in Barcelona, but it was anything but easy. The bike moved around a lot, the conditions were critical, and I really had to give one hundred percent. I also have to thank Maverick because thanks to his slipstream on the straight, I gained a few fundamental metres. Overall, we worked well, both on the flying lap and in terms of preparing for the race. Now all that’s left is to start well, stay focused and see who has conserved their tyres the best in the finale."

MAVERICK  VIÑALES
8th - 1'39.397
"We did a good job, even if this performance should come easier for us. In any case, I’m happy to be starting from the third row. It was important for us to improve in qualifying and today we took a good step forward. It’s going to be a long race but I feel good. I’ll be aiming to be aggressive in the early laps and then conserve the tyres a bit for the finale."