Aleix Espargaró will start from pole position in the Catalunya MotoGP Grand Prix. Competing at home, the Aprilia rider was only 0.031s faster than Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) in qualifying in Barcelona, setting a new lap record in 1m38.190s.
The Spaniard admitted in the interview with the official broadcast that the bar was set high after the first outings on track, even thinking that the pole position time would have to be even lower:
– I don’t have 100 pole positions in my career, so even if it’s just a Saturday in my home GP, it’s amazing to get the pole – and especially fighting with Pecco, because the time he set with the first tire was amazing. I entered the garage and said: ‘Oh, my God! With the first tire already in 1m38.2s, let’s go for 1m37s’.
After a less than ideal start with the second tire, Espargaró made the lap that gave him the pole position, in a phase that he commented like this: ‘Actually, with the second tire I made several mistakes in my first flying lap, and the second flying lap was probably the best lap of my life. So, I am extremely happy‘.
