Quartararo, Ramos and Forés lead qualifying sessions in Navarra. Mateos, winner of the Kawasaki Z Cup race
The day began at the Circuito de Navarra with clear skies, lack of wind and pleasant temperatures that climbed steadily as the hours went by. With such favourable weather conditions during the qualifying sessions of the fifth race of the season ―so different from those last season in Navarre― the CEV Repsol riders were able to take full advantage of the perfect racing conditions and records fell in each category: all the fastest pole times from 2012 were beaten.
It was an exciting day in Moto3™. Just when it seemed Fabio Quartararo (FRA-FTR) was fading as the season progressed, the Wild Wolf Racing rider ended up being the only rider to lap in under one minute and 46 seconds. He will be joined on the front row by Marcos Ramírez (SPA-KTM), who still hasn’t had a pole position this season despite the second place he holds in the overall rankings. Third place went to Remy Gardner (AUS-KTM), whose performances ―such as that recently at the Circuito de Albacete― are showing a lot of promise.
In Moto2™, Román Ramos (SPA-Ariane) took his third pole of the season. Behind him were his usual companions on the front row, Alejandro Mariñelarena (SPA-Kalex) and Hafizh Syahrin (MAL-Kalex). The three dominated the qualifying sessions, as their lap times show: their best times better than a second faster than the other riders. The Superstock 600 category debuted at this circuit, which didn’t put off the best rider of the day and overall leader in the rankings, Miquel Pons (SPA-Yamaha). Jorge Arroyo (SPA-Yamaha) of Andalucía Cádiz Pastrana Racing Team came a close second, ahead of Alejandro Esteban (SPA-Kawasaki) in third place.
At the close of qualifying in the Stock Extreme category, Xavier Forés (SPA-Ducati) was ―as his fans might expect― in pole position for tomorrow’s race. Joining him on the front row of the grid are the riders from Team Calvo and Targobank Motorsport ―Carmelo Morales (SPA-Kawasaki) and Iván Silva (SPA-BMW Motorrad)―. Jon Purroy (SPA -BMW Motorrad) was the fastest privateer and will be looking for his second win of the season at home tomorrow. Raúl García (SPA-Kawasaki) and Fran Rodríguez (SPA-Kawasaki) took the second and third fastest times of the day.
With the qualifying sessions finished, the Kawasaki Z Cup riders took to the track to contest the first of two races scheduled for this weekend. Alexander Mateos grabbed victory after being about to pull out with mechanical problems just before the start. Spurred on by the tension of the situation, he imposed a stunning pace that his closest rival Francisco Valera just couldn’t match. Third place on the podium went to Badreddine Benlekehal, a French journalist invited by the organizers of the Cup, who said later that he had had a great time on the track. Tomorrow, all the riders will be appearing again for the second race of the weekend.
The Moto3, Moto2 and Stock Extreme will be shown live on Energy TV or online at www.mitele.es
The race schedule is as follows (local time):
11:00 Moto2 (18 laps)
12:00 Stock Extreme (18 laps)
13:00 Moto3 (17 laps)
14:00 Moto2 (18 laps)
15:00 Kawasaki Z Cup (17 laps)
Source: Repsol Media
