Third row for Smith and ONE Energy Racing at Misano

Posted on Sep 13, 2019 by One Energy Racing

Bradley Smith will start from the third row of the grid in San Marino, after placing seventh in E-Pole on Friday. The ONE Energy Racing rider had a tougher opening day than expected at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, and will need to get off the line well on Saturday to be in the fight for the podium.

The day consisted of two Free Practice sessions in the morning, which Smith used to get reacquainted with the circuit and work on the setup of his bike. In the E-Pole session, the ONE Energy Racing rider looked for a place at the head of the grid, but finally his 1min 45.011secs lap left him in seventh place.

The first of the two races held alongside the San Marino GP will take place tomorrow at 4:15pm local time.

Bradley Smith:
"We basically treated today as a big test. We wanted to try out different things, especially with the rear of the bike. The result was neither positive nor negative - we simply wanted to gather information to help us in the future. In E-Pole my main rival for the championship crashed and seeing how this session decides the grid for both races this weekend, I chose not to take any risks. In the end, I set my best lap of the day.

We also started from seventh position in Germany and we were further off the times set by the frontrunners. This time we are just over three tenths off, which is positive. It is not the best result, but our rival for the title is much further back than us. We have to get a good start tomorrow and look ahead, knowing that we have a good package with which to fight for the podium. We will have to be smart and keep in mind where our rivals are during the race."