The Valencia qualifiers on Saturday confirmed the progress made by Aleix Espargaró's Aprilia RS-GP, already demonstrated yesterday in the wet. In different conditions, from rain tyres in the morning during the decisive FP3 session and dry in qualifying, Aleix was consistently with the leaders, even filing away a nice fourth place time in FP4.

Crashing just at the end of FP3, a rather heated session to get into the top ten and therefore Q2, Aleix changed bikes and, finding the right confidence straight away, pulled out the ninth best time that put him through to Q2 right on the final lap. Among the best, he distinguished himself by finishing eighth with a time of 1’31.630, just three tenths behind pole, earning the middle spot on the third row of the starting grid where he will start the race tomorrow, during which rain is forecast.

After yesterday when he had shown signs of competitiveness, Scott Redding ran into some difficult qualifiers and in the end had to settle for the eighth row with a time of 1’35.171. However, given his pace in the wet, the conditions forecast for tomorrow could put him in play for a good placement.