Smith powers to second row in Brno qualifying thriller

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Smith powers to second row in Brno qualifying thriller

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Smith powers to second row in #Brno qualifying thriller


@Monster @Yamaha @Tech3 Team #rider Bradley Smith produced his best qualifying result of the year today as he shot to 5th position in the highly intense qualifying shootout at the bwin Grand Prix Ceske Republiky. The 24 year old, who currently sits in 5th in the MotoGP World Championship standings, got straight up to speed in this morning's FP3 practice as he delivered a top time of 1'56.195, that left him in 4th position in the combined standings. His performance saw him glide straight through to Q2 and once the 15 minute session began, the British rider jumped on his Yamaha YZR-M1 and launch into his qualifying campaign. Smith undertook seven laps at the 5.4 kilometre Brno circuit and produced an impressive time of 1'55.460 that was 0.125 quicker than last year's pole position. In addition, his lap was fractionally behind third place by barely over a tenth of a second and tomorrow he will start the 22 lap race from the middle of the second row as he aims to clinch the leading satellite honours once again.
On the other side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team pit box, Pol Espargaro undertook a fully determined qualifying effort and will start the 11th round of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship from 8th position. The 2014 leading satellite rider endured a tricky time in the morning practice session as he finished with a best lap of 1'56.484. This was only three tenths behind his teammate, yet it put him in 11th and just 0.013 seconds outside the cut off point for Q2. In the first qualifying session, the 24 year old persevered and a rode a strong time of 1'56.212 that put him at the top of the pile by over three tenths of a second. Straight after that, when Qualifying 2 occurred, Espargaro waited until the midpoint of the session in order to save his only remaining set of tyres, but once on track, he attacked straight away and concluded the practice with a personal best of 1'55.955. This time was a blink of an eye from the second row by only 0.020 after he completed just three laps and we will see him begin at the Automotodrom Brno from the middle of the third row.



Bradley Smith

5th / 1'55.460 / 7 laps

"I am very happy with my performance today as it is my second consecutive qualifying result on the front two rows after the summer break. This is especially rewarding because my main focus for the remaining races was to improve my grid positions as we lost too much time at the beginning of the races earlier this year. In FP4 we tried various different settings and some were positive and others were not as good but the team made a combination of these and in the end I went out on a bike in Q2 with a setting which I hadn't ridden yet. It was a bit risky, but it turned out to be a good choice by the team and I have to thank them for their great work. I am only half a second from the pole time and again, I was fighting with the Factory Yamaha for the front row, and so I have to be happy. The top five riders were a big step above the other guys on the single lap pace, however I'm sure it will be different in the race. The important thing tomorrow will be to get a good start as it will be a long, tough one and so, tyre management is vital. We will try to make some small improvements tonight, especially for tyre preservation and I will test them tomorrow morning. However, I'm pretty sure that we have the right bike to do a good job."






Pol Espargaro

8th / 1'55.955 / 3 laps

"Without a doubt, it has been a complicated day here in the Czech Republic. We had to face different issues with the bike, which prevented us from setting up the M1 properly. As a result, we are still struggling a little bit to find a solution which will make me feel confident, especially if the grip level isn't too high. However, to finish with a gap of just two hundredths of a second from the second row is quite pleasing especially after the challenge of going through QP1, plus with only one tyre left for Qualifying 2. Of course this is not where we want to be but I'm confident that we will adjust a few things on the bike in tomorrow's warm up so that we are prepared for what will definitely be a tough race. Having said that, I will give my absolute all in order to come away with the best possible result after the uphill start we had so far."



Loris Baz third Open in Brno
The riders of the Forward Racing team will line up respectively in sixth and eighth row for the start of the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic. Loris Baz finished the qualifying session in 18th position, while Claudio Corti was 24th.
Baz, third Open bike behind Barbera and Di Meglio with a time of 1.57.540, will go hunting points during the race tomorrow starting from 18th place. For the Frenchman it will be important to have a good start and get as close as possible to the Spaniard who is the current leader of the Open standings, six points ahead of Baz.
His teammate Claudio Corti will race on the offensive. The Italian, who has improved by almost one second in qualifying, stopped the clock in 1'59.145 and will occupy the 24th position on the grid.



Loris Baz

18th / 1'57.540 / 6 laps

"It was not a perfect qualifying but I can't say I'm totally unhappy. The goal was to get in the Top15 and close to the quickest Open but unfortunately I could not push as I wanted especially on the front tyre. Tomorrow's race will be complicated: the temperature and the weather will be the true unknowns."






Claudio Corti

24th / 1'59.145 / 7 laps

"I'm pretty happy with the result today considering the really high level in MotoGP this season. I lapped almost a second faster than yesterday. After just one race weekend I can say that we are on the right track, we have to continue like this. I'm confident for the race: yesterday I did some tests with full tank and the feelings were good."




2015 MotoGP Czech Republic

Brno 15/08/2015

1 Jorge Lorenzo
Yamaha
ESP 1'54.989
2 Marc Marquez Honda ESP 1'55.063
3 Valentino Rossi
Yamaha
ITA 1'55.353
4 Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 1'55.390
5 Bradley Smith
Yamaha
GBR 1'55.460
6 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 1'55.935
7 Maverick Viales Suzuki ESP 1'55.954
8 Pol Espargaro
Yamaha
ESP 1'55.955
9 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'55.969
10 Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 1'56.192
11 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 1'56.399
12 Yonny Hernandez Ducati COL 1'56.739
13 Danilo Petrucci Ducati ITA 1'56.713
14 Scott Redding Honda GBR 1'56.765
15 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki ESP 1'56.806
18 Loris Baz
Yamaha
FRA 1'57.540
24 Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 1'59.145





Circuit Length:
5403
Weather:
Sunny
Lap Record:
1'56.274
(Jorge Lorenzo, 1-1-2012)
Fastest Lap Ever:
1'54.989
(Jorge Lorenzo, 16-8-2015)
Last Years Winner:
Daniel Pedrosa
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