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
Position : 5th Time : 1’55.460 Laps : 7
Bradley Smith – 2015″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
Position : 8th Time : 1’55.955 Laps : 3
Pol Espargaro – 2015″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”