Smith to speed from second row of the grid at Indianapolis

[totalmotorcycle]

Smith to speed from second row of the grid at #Indianapolis


@Monster @Yamaha @Tech3 Team rider Bradley Smith produced a stellar effort in the qualifying practice at the Indianapolis Grand Prix today to clinch 6th position for tomorrow's 27 lap sprint. The young Briton began the day with a superb display in FP3 where he posted a top time of 1'32.421, which saw him finish the session in 2nd and just a blink of an eye back from the leading time by 0.029. Following this performance, the 24 year old was fully charged for a successful run in QP2. When the 15 minute shootout began, the British rider jumped onto the Yamaha YZR-M1 and burst into action before setting a time of 1'32.269 on his 7th lap which lifted him to third position. He then attempted to lower the time further, before finishing in 6th which equals his best qualifying performance of the year, with his lap being only 0.083 from the rear of the front row. Smith now fully intends to undertake a typically strong start tomorrow to be able to battle as close as possible to the factory MotoGP bikes during the 10th round of the 2015 season.
Meanwhile Pol Espargaro will contest the second American round of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship from 11th on the grid after a tricky qualifying practice in Indianapolis. The Spaniard began his day with a solid performance in FP3 by setting a lap of 1'32.945 which he was due to improve further, but he unfortunately fell at the end of the practice. This meant his earlier time saw him finish the session in 8th and able to progress straight through to QP2. When the qualifying started, the 24 year old pulled the pin and set a 1'32.670 on only his second lap. Espargaro concluded the 15 minute shoot out with this time as his personal best, which will see him start the race from the middle of the fourth row, with a gap of less than half a second from third position. Nevertheless, the 2013 Moto2 World Champion remains fully confident of being able to climb through the field tomorrow and clinch a high scoring finish aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1.



Bradley Smith

6th / 1'32.269 / 9 laps

"I'm really pleased with my performance today and in addition, my objective for the second half of this year was to qualify higher, so it has been a good start. At the same time, I am a bit disappointed as I was so close to the front row and I definitely left a bit of time out on track, but with everything being so close any small mistakes could have cost us a lot. I felt really good with the bike today and we started off well in the morning. Later we were even able to make another small step forward in FP4. We have made some considerable progress with the hard tyre and towards the end of the final practice session, I became much more confident about our chances in tomorrow's GP. It will be a long and tricky race but the key factor is to remain consistent. Yet, to start from the outside of the second row is quite positive and I have qualified in that position before so I know the right lines to take. This afternoon, we will improve our plan of action for tomorrow a bit more, but all in all, I'm ready for the fight."






Pol Espargaro

11th / 1'32.670 / 8 laps

"Without a doubt I can't be satisfied with this qualifying result. During the practice sessions we always had a strong rhythm with the harder compound of tyre but as soon as I put the soft one in and tried to push for a fast lap time, my confidence with the bike dropped significantly. I didn't feel comfortable nor did I enjoy riding the bike and my movements on it were not natural. It went as far as thinking that I would crash in nearly every corner which has happened twice already this weekend. However, fortunately our situation for the race looks to be more competitive even if I haven't given myself an easy task from 11th place on the grid as I personally think that the starting position counts as more or less 40% of the result. Still, I will give it my all tomorrow and try to climb back to the positions that I want to be in."




2015 MotoGP United States

Indianapolis 08/08/2015

1 Marc Marquez Honda ESP 1'31.884
2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'32.055
3 Jorge Lorenzo
Yamaha
ESP 1'32.186
4 Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 1'32.208
5 Danilo Petrucci Ducati ITA 1'32.243
6 Bradley Smith
Yamaha
GBR 1'32.269
7 Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 1'32.468
8 Valentino Rossi
Yamaha
ITA 1'32.511
9 Maverick Viñales Suzuki ESP 1'32.571
10 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 1'32.636
11 Pol Espargaro
Yamaha
ESP 1'32.670
12 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki ESP 1'32.814
13 Scott Redding Honda GBR 1'33.170
14 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 1'33.199
15 Yonny Hernandez Ducati COL 1'33.278





Circuit Length:
4186
Weather:
Dry
Fastest Lap Ever:
1'31.619
(Marc Marquez, 10-8-2014)
Last Years Winner:
Marc Marquez