Iannone Fastest Ahead of Qualifying

Nov 7, 2015
3 min read

Andrea Iannone goes into this afternoon's qualifying session as the fastest man of the weekend so far after he posted the quickest lap of the weekend of a 1:30.925. The Ducati rider will be one to watch later on with the soft tyre available to him, and his qualifying position could be vital in deciding the outcome of the 2015 World Championship as the GP15 launches off the line extremely well.

Valentino Rossi treated this FP3 session like any other, despite the fact that making it into the second qualifying session is irrelevant for the Italian with his grid penalty. Despite this, the Doctor put in stunning lap in closing minutes to go second quickest with a lap of 1:30.982. Rossi spent much of his 45-minutes testing the soft front tyre, which is the hardest of the front options, as he looks to see what the bike is like under braking. Rossi will now go into qualifying still vying for pole position, because if he does that it could just get under the skin of his rival and upset his concentration just that little bit. He may also use his fifteen minutes to simulate the opening laps of the race to gather data on what his pace may be like.

Jorge Lorenzo looked set to go fastest in the session, but encountered a slowing Michele Pirro on the GP15 through turn thirteen on his best lap and lost out. The Spaniard was unable to improve on any of his subsequent laps and looked flustered following the session as a result. He ended the morning fifth in FP3 and fourth on the combined times, but did put in a sequence of mid-low 1:31s laps which were on a par with Marc Marquez on the Honda and a little quicker than Rossi.

Marquez was fastest for a time in FP3, but fell to third by session's end with a best lap of 1:31.034. Dani Pedrosa struggled a little more and managed sixth. Honda-mounted riders complained about overheating of the front tyre yesterday and clearly it was still a concern this morning as they opted to test the soft front.

Cal Crutchlow sneaked into the top ten in ninth on the LCR Honda, but fellow Satellite Honda rider Scott Redding struggled massively. The Marc VDS rider stated yesterday that it was the worst day he'd had on the bike, and this morning was no better. Redding only managed to improve to nineteenth and it looks like getting into QP2 later today will be an impossible task.

Bradley Smith looked as if he too was struggling around the Ricardo Tormo Circuit when he ended the day fourteenth. The Briton was in fact focusing on race set-up and gave a glimpse of his true pace this morning when he went fifth on the combined sheets with a 1:31.134, which was about 1.3s quicker than his best effort from FP2.

Pol Espargaro, on the sister Tech 3 machine, was seventh, with Andrea Dovizioso, Crutchlow and Danilo Petrucci completing the roster of riders progressing straight through to QP2.

Both Suzukis missed the cut in eleventh and thirteenth, and will have a tough job on their hands to try and get both Alexi Espargaro and Maverick Vinales into the pole shoot-out session. Hector Barbera and Yonny Hernandez will be their biggest rival, whilst Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista could spring a surprise on the Aprilia.

QP2 Runners:

Andrea Iannone

Valentino Rossi

Marc Marquez

Jorge Lorenzo

Bradley Smith

Dani Pedrosa

Pol Espargaro

Andrea Dovizioso

Cal Crutchlow

Danilo Petrucci

QP1 Runners: