Honda’s NSF250RW Monopolises Aragon Front Row
MotorLand AragónHonda riders had a superb qualifying session for tomorrow’s Aragon Moto3 race,
with Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda NSF250RW), Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) and Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda NSF250RW) filling all three places on the front row of the grid.
And Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team Honda NSF250RW) and Jeremy Alcoba (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) made it five NSF250RW machines in the top seven, on the second and third rows in fifth and seventh positions.
This is Binder’s first pole position since the season-opening Qatar GP, which he finished on the podium, so the 23-year-old South African will be looking for another top-three tomorrow.
Rodrigo retook second place on the grid with a brilliant final lap, just 0.181 seconds behind Binder. The 24-year-old Argentine rider scored his last podium at May’s Italian Grand Prix. This race will be Rodrigo’s 116th GP and he has yet to top the podium.
Suzuki’s front-row performance – his fifth of 2021, including pole positions at the Spanish and Italian rounds – was particularly impressive because he came through the Q1 outing to qualify for Q2.
The 23-year-old from Chiba is still searching for his first victory since last July’s Andalusian GP and knows this will be a difficult race, with constant changes of position, lots of slipstreaming and no doubt a super-tight finish.
Both Yuki Kunii (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) and Andi Farid Izdihar (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) were frustrated by slower traffic in today’s crucial practice and qualifying positions. Kunii’s day wasn’t help by a minor tumble this morning. These circumstances put the 18-year-old from Setagaya 25th on the grid
Izdihar rode well in Q1, but his hopes were spoiled when he found slower riders in his way. He will start tomorrow’s race alongside his team-mate on the ninth row.
The Moto3 paddock’s next appointment is the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano next weekend.
I’m really happy with today. I ended yesterday in a good place and I felt confident coming into qualifying. I brought my long pants with me today because I thought that I could put it on pole, so I wanted to make sure I looked smart in the press conference! I’m super happy with how everything worked out and I want to say a huge thanks to the team for putting a perfect bike together for me. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s race. I’m feeling confident and I think we can have a strong race. I was on the podium with second here last year, so I’m hoping I can go one better tomorrow.
We did a great lap already in the first run with the hard rear option and a used front tyre and that would have been enough for a second-row start. Then with a new rear and without slipstream I managed to be second fastest. The grid positioning in Moto3 is relatively important, but here we have different pace and feeling compared to Silverstone. A huge thank you to the team because they worked incredibly hard and well, as they turned the bike around and now the chattering issues are gone.
We are very happy with this front row today after some complicated races. A big thank you to my team, although we know the race is tomorrow and we know it will be difficult, with a big group and lots of fighting. Strategy will be important.
We planned to push in FP3 to have a place in Q2, but an early crash prevented me from following the plan, losing a lot of confidence. At the beginning of Q1, I tried to do my time alone, but, in Aragon, without a reference ahead it’s almost impossible. On my last outing, with a new tyre, I pushed hard, but in the middle of the lap I found some people riding slowly, losing all my options. I cannot be thinking about what could happen if... The reality is that tomorrow I will start from P25. The only thing I can do is to catch the front group as soon as possible.
In FP3 I missed again the option to score a good lap time, despite that the feeling was better than yesterday. In Q1 I struggled to manage the session, with many groups of riders slowing in front. My ideal lap time wasn't bad; that means I have space to improve for tomorrow.
