Eugene optimistic for Austin raceday
Qualifying for the GP of the Americas took place today in Austin, with Marc Márquez taking pole position. He did so in an eventful session, in which he had to pull over on the final straight and jump onto his second bike, with just three minutes remaining on the clock.
The Spaniard performed two further laps and snatched the top spot in Austin. Cal Crutchlow, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso were all battling Márquez for the place, but the reigning World Champion was able to best them all on every sector to claim pole by 3 tenths of a second.
Eugene Laverty took a big leap forward on the second day in Austin. His first experience of the track was in the wet the previous day, and at an unknown circuit this was not easy for him.
Today he was able to improve throughout the day and prepare well for the qualifying session. He also made progress in that session, although seventeenth on the grid is slightly further back than anticipated. The Northern Irishman has set his sights on scoring points in the race.
17th Eugene Laverty 2.04.875:
“Certainly today we had a better day than yesterday. On the first day the track was wet and we were able to ride in the dry today. That allowed me to be improve steadily throughout the day and in the qualifying session we made significant improvement. Finishing as the top Honda in the Open class is a positive, and I’m happy about that, but seventeenth on the grid is definitely not the position I would like to be. In any case we must continue to work hard and perform at top level to try to take some points tomorrow.”
Source: Aspar Media