A morning rain shower at Phillip Island today did nothing to help the teams and riders prepare for tomorrow’s race but thankfully the notoriously changeable conditions worked in their favour this afternoon as qualifying practice took place in the dry. An exciting session built to a dramatic finale in the final three minutes, with Pol Espargaró clinching pole ahead of compatriots Nico Terol and Julian Simón, who launches his second bid to secure the 125cc World Championship title from the front row, as Bradley Smith crashed.
Simón wisely opted to skip the wet part of the morning session in order to avoid an unnecessary crash but he was on the pace in the afternoon, building to a best lap of 1’38.067 that was good enough for third place on tomorrow’s grid. His team-mates Smith and Sergio Gadea both struggled to match the Spaniard’s pace in the final section of the track although the Briton was at least on great form from T1 to T3. However, pushing to make a challenge for pole position on his penultimate lap, Bradley crash in turn four. Things did not go any better for Gadea, who was unable to significantly make up the time he was losing in T4 around the rest of the circuit and could only qualify sixteenth.
3rd Julián Simón 1.38.067 (17 laps):
“I’m really happy with the way practice went today. We took a step forward from what we had yesterday and there are only two or three points on the circuit where I’m struggling for corner speed so hopefully I can be in the lead group battling for the win tomorrow. Hopefully I can get a good start but I have improved in that respect lately so I’m confident. I guess there’ll be a large group that forms over the opening few laps and a lot of overtaking going on – like there was in Estoril – so I’ll have to take care to stay out of trouble. If I can finish ahead of Bradley and win the title here then fantastic – if not I’ll have to wait until Malaysia but I don’t plan to rush anything and make another mistake. I can’t afford to throw another race away so I’ll be very focused on having a good race and nothing else.”
5th Bradley Smith 1.38.155 (18 laps):
“I’m a bit annoyed with myself about the crash because I knew turn four was a dangerous one, where you have to take it at around 80%, but I got excited and pushed too hard. It is always a tricky one for the right hand side of the tyre and it let go on me straight away. Anyway, other than that I am happy because the bike is stable and I think we have the pace to run at the front tomorrow. I wanted to push for pole position over the final few laps but it is always difficult here if you can’t get a slipstream. I’m starting from the second row but if I can get off the line well then I have the pace to run with the front group and even break them up if possible. The fewer there are of us in the fight the better.”
16th Sergio Gadea 1.39.274 (18 laps):
“It hasn’t been a good day for us and I couldn’t get comfortable on the bike at all. IO’ve ended up qualifying way down the grid and it is not where we should be. Basically we haven’t found the right set-up and I haven’t had the confidence to push it. My lines are good and I am braking well but when I get on the gas coming off the apex the bike is dragging me wide and coasting me time. It will be a tough race for us tomorrow but we’ll give it our best to try and fight through.”
