Red Bull KTM build on recent results from Brno and Spielberg to further improve RC16
Posted on Aug 26, 2017 by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MotoGP team have built upon their recent top ten results from Brno and Spielberg to improve and develop the KTM RC16 at Silverstone for this weekend's British MotoGP as the bike turned a wheel on British soil for the first time.
Pol Espargaro brilliantly qualified for the all-important Q2 following his seventh position from Friday and Saturday morning free practice, the first time any of the KTM MotoGP riders have advanced straight to Q2 in dry conditions.
In qualifying Espargaro set his best lap time around the longest circuit of the MotoGP series to be seventh at the halfway point – a stunning performance – but the plucky Spaniard was desperately unlucky to fall off at the late-apex Brooklands corner as he started his second run. He will start 11th on the grid, his third best in the debut season of the KTM MotoGP project. Team mate Bradley Smith found a huge 2.4 seconds today over his Friday time to race around his home GP circuit for the first time on Michelin tyres after not being able to ride last year due to injury. He dug deep throughout the day to be ultimately an impressive 0.6 secs off his team mate come the end of qualifying. He will start 19th.
Bradley Smith (Factory Rider MotoGP):
"I have to be pleased with the improvement in time from yesterday; 2.4 seconds improvement is a huge step and at the end of today I'm only 0.6 seconds back of Pol on a long lap. This morning's rain didn't help but it was dry again this afternoon. I had a little slip off in FP4 with one of the harder front tyres so lost a bit of time but I managed to pull it together for the second run of the second tyre with a 2m 02.0sec. That was a good lap with nothing left on the table to give me 19th place on the grid which is on the left hand side of the track which is great for the run in to Copse and then Maggots. I'm now looking forward to racing at home in front of the British fans tomorrow."
Sebastian Risse (Technical Director MotoGP):
"As a whole the bike works very well here at Silverstone. With Pol we got through to Q2 directly after his great run yesterday so we were automatically in the top 12 on the grid. This was great for the whole team here and in Austria. In qualifying he did his fastest lap of the weekend on his first run that put him seventh, however he was so unlucky on his second run when he had an off as he wound himself up for an even faster lap. These kind of things just happen but it's so good to have such committed riders and that's the price you occasionally have to pay, so we don't need to dwell on that. With Bradley we've made some big steps forward today so I'm happy with that as his lap time is strong and getting closer to Pol."
Races: August 13, 2017 – Moto3 12:40 | Moto2 14:00 CET | MotoGP 15:30