Oliveira, Martinez and Morales take pole positions for European Championship at Albacete

Exceptional day of racing at the highest level in Albacete where the qualifying for the UEM European Championship saw some of the fastest laptimes ever recorded on the circuit.

In the 125cc class it seems like the battle between Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira and Spaniard Maverick Viñales has spilled over from the Spanish to the European Championship and will repeat itself tomorrow. This time it’s been Oliveira who was ahead by a whisker, taking pole position from Viñales by only 0.053 seconds, riding laptimes below 1’34. Third man on the grid will be another well-known face from the CEV, Alex Rins, but going almost a second slower than the due at the front. Alessandro Tonucci took the final spot on the front row, the Italian youngster from Team Junior GP knows the track well and was involved in a spectacular battle for victory with German rider Marcel Schrötter last year.
Former Red Bull Rookie Dani Ruiz qualified 7th fastest and will line up next to Marc Marquez’ little brother Alex who posted the 6th fastest laptime.

Bernat Martínez, who we’ve already seen in the Moto2 Championship this year, took pole position in the Superstock 1000 class and looks to be a candidate for the title after he just missed out on it last year. He’s been the only rider going under 1’30, but Santiago Barragán is still only 0.034s behind him. Third on the grid is Javier Forés, who had to adapt to the different tyres, while Swiss rider Muff took fourth.

In the Supersport class Carmel Morales complete destroyed the competition by going a whooping 1,6 seconds faster than the rest of the field, despite having to readapt to the bikes after last racing Supersport bikes in 2001. Joining him on the front row will be Antonio Gallardo, Danish rider Schacht and Dutch rider Raymound Schouten.

The race will be broadcasted live tomorrow on British Eurosport (UK), RAI Sports (Italy), SportsTV (Portugal), Nelonen (Finland) and Super Sport (Albania). German channel Sport1 will broadcast the 125cc race delayed while in Spain Teleporte offers the Superstock 1000 & 125cc race live.

10:45h Superstock 1000
12:00h 125GP
13.15h Supersport

Source: European Championship
Photo: Circuito Albacete