Ogura Just Outside Top Ten in Misano Qualifying
Misano World Circuit Marco SimoncelliAi Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Kalex) will start tomorrow’s San Marino Grand Prix from the fourth row of the grid, after qualifying just 0.120 seconds outside the top ten at Misano today.
Misano is a particularly tight, tortuous and complicated circuit, where the grid is more closely packed than ever, so it’s been a challenging weekend for the 20-year-old from Tokyo who has never been here before with a Moto2 bike.
Tomorrow Ogura aims to achieve his tenth top-ten finish of his impressive rookie Moto2 season. That kind of result should be within his grasp and he will do everything he can to do even better and get inside the top five for the fourth time. Ogura currently stands eighth in the Moto2 World Championship and he is the second best-placed rookie.
Team-mate Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Kalex) should be in the hunt for more championship points after qualifying 18th. The 22-year-old Thai rider has already scored points in five races so far this year, including three top-ten finishes.
Pole position went to title contender Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo Kalex), who bettered second-fastest Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) by three tenths of a second. Last man on the front row will be Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex), who is no relation to Raul.
World Championship leader Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo Kalex) will lead the second row. He was six tenths of a second slower than his team-mate on pole position and goes into tomorrow’s race defending a 39-point lead over his team-mate.
Aron Canet (Kipin Energy Aspar Team Boscoscuro) and Jorge Navarro (+EGO Speed Up Boscoscuro) are the other two riders who will start from the second row.
I expected much more than a P12. I couldn't ride well. My lap time was quite slow, even if I felt I was on the limit and not consistent in my riding. We have one more session before the race. I don’t have any expectations about tomorrow – just to do my maximum.
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I'm happy for my result of today, despite to start from P18 is not the best for the tomorrow's race. This morning on FP3, we tried something different on the bike, included a new compound on the front tire. I've been part of the Q2, where I improved my lap time, but I've made some mistakes, and I've been not enough fast for the best grid position.
