Fifth row for Alex De Angelis at Laguna Seca

Alex De Angelis, substitute rider for Ignite Pramac Racing Team rider Ben Spies at Laguna Seca, today took part in MotoGP’s new qualifying format for the first time, finishing the day with 14th place on the starting grid.

The San Marino rider improved his time in every exit and missed advancing to the Q2 session by just a few tenths of a second. His time of 1:23.253, nearly a second better than his best from yesterday, put him on row five.

For tomorrow, De Angelis is determined to further reduce his gap to the front group, and to earn some points.

Alex De Angelis – Ignite Pramac Racing Team

“I’m really happy with how the weekend is going. In qualifying, I immediately did my best time with the first tyre; I tried to push harder with the second one, but then I made a mistake on the last lap. Our initial goal was to improve session by session, and I must say we’re managing to do that. We also just missed out on Q2 today, and that’s something I never expected; when we stsarted, it seemed truly unthinkable. The fact that I already know the track certainly helped, although I had to re-find my reference points a bit, but the race will be long tomorrow; it’s been three years since my last time in MotoGP, and I’m not used to it anymore. I’ll do my best, trying to follow the riders in front of me, and we’ll see what we can do. At this point I’ve also made it a goal to get some points.”

Pramac Racing Team