ALEIX GOES STRAIGHT THROUGH TO Q2 AND THEN RIDES HIS RS-GP TO JUST A HALF A SECOND FROM POLE POSITION
Aleix Espargaró put in a great performance, first finishing FP3 with the seventh best time to go straight through to the Q2 session and then riding his Aprilia to the third row of the starting grid (eighth best time at 1'48.159) for the race tomorrow.
The weather conditions that finally stabilised and the dry track let Espargaró bring out the best from his Italian V4. In all the Saturday sessions, including FP4, dedicated to finding the best race setup, he was well within the top ten and then he made a grand finish with a nice qualifying session.
In standings that are characterised by minimal gaps between the best, Aleix finished just 52 hundredths behind pole position. This is a significant result and another important benchmark in the growth of the RS-GP which, race after race, continues to draw closer and closer to the top spots in the rankings.
Sam Lowes had to deal with two crashes in the final two free practice sessions leading up to the qualifiers and he was then unlucky, running into traffic in Q1 and therefore forced to settle for the eighth row with the 24th best time at 1'50.769.