Qatar GP • saturday

The day begins with very strong winds and poor visibility which complicate the conditions of the track on which the riders have to race, However, Iván Ortolá is not discouraged and manages to conclude the third free practice session with a fantastic 2’06.5 which allows him to win the eighth position, but not enough to guarantee him direct access to Q2. In any case, thanks also to a magical strategy and an impeccable work by the team, the Spanish diamond during the first qualifying round takes another 4 tenths off his best lap and wins second place, thus entering Q2 where, after a further change of tires, he launches for the final run together with his KTM, with which he blocks the clock at 2’05.7 and takes possession of the tenth place on the starting grid on his debut in the Moto3 world championship.

“It was a pretty good day for me. I suffered, but it turned out well in the end. In FP3 we did a good time (2’06.5 || + 1.194), but I didn’t manage to qualify directly for Q2, even if I think it was excellent to go from Q1, because I still lapped and I calmed down a lot. Maybe that’s why I managed to qualify in the Top 10. Tomorrow I hope to have a good race and get a result that repays the team for all the incredible and fast work they are doing.. “

For Stefano Nepa , on the other hand, qualifying ended with Q1, when the position was snatched from him for only 16 thousandths of a second, thus not being able to switch to Q2 and having to start from nineteenth position for the first GP of this season.

“We tried to improve the whole set-up, making improvements in FP3, unfortunately, however, with the first time attack I was not happy with the soft and then I took the yellow; therefore, I was unable to enter QP2 directly. In any case, I wasn’t fast enough, because I was losing a lot in T3 and T4. We tried to improve everything for qualifying, but I was out for a very short time. On the one hand, I am confident that I have understood well where I need to improve, also because for tomorrow it is already clear what I have to work on. We hope to have some good sensations during the warm-up and then to play it in the race! ”.

Alessandro Tonucci , Team Manager of Angeluss MTA Racing, is happy with the result obtained at the team’s debut thanks to an amazing qualifying by Iván Ortolá, but at the same time he is sorry for Stefano Nepa who for a few thousandths was unable to fight for the positions it deserves.

“I am very happy with Ortolà’s result, because he managed to be the best rookie on the track and in our perspective of aiming for the title of best rookie of the year, he is already a good step forward. There is still a lot from the first one, but it’s tomorrow that really matters, so for today I’m satisfied, but we’re all already focused on tomorrow. As for Nepa, on the other hand, I am sorry because it really only took 16 thousandths more, very little. Now we are trying to work further to improve the feeling on the front, so that we can get him back in the race tomorrow. “