Photo by: Aspar Team
Despite having barely ridden this weekend thanks to adverse weather, Randy De Puniet continued to be the reference rider of the CRT competitors.
The Frenchman only had teammate Aleix Espargaró as a rival in the final stage of the qualifying session as he qualified twelfth overall. Both Power Electronics Aspar riders complained about a lack of grip with the rear of their ART machines, spending much of the session trying out improvements.
There was no definitive solution found, but the duo was nonetheless the best of the new sub-class on Saturday. Espargaró placed fourteenth on the grid. The two have a warm up session tomorrow morning in which to look for further steps forward.
Randy de Puniet: "This is turning out to be a very strange weekend, because we have hardly been able to ride. Despite the condition of the asphalt not being very good in qualifying and the problems that we were having on corner entry, I felt good. We have tried to solve our grip problems with the rear with engine braking.
We improved a lot in the qualifying run, so I am happy with that and the fact that we were the best CRT. I think that we will have to improve a little bit more tomorrow. I am very motivated for the race and my aim is to break away like at Brno to be the top CRT finisher."
Aleix Espargaró: "Today I had difficulties finding my pace in qualifying. We lost a lot of time this weekend due to the weather and today we still had work to do going into qualifying. At the start of the session we had a lot of problems with rear grip. I was unable to make the bike turn as I would have liked.
We tried a lot of solutions out. In any case, I am calm because we are in a good position and I know that my team will continue pushing as much as necessary to give us a definitive solution. Despite not being comfortable, my pace wasn't bad and I think that with a small step forward we can be up there with Randy. We have to look at the telemetry later and see what we are lacking."
Source: Power Electronics Aspar
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