Kent and Ajo continue setting up Husqvarna machines in Qatar
21/03/2014Husqvarna riders finish sole free practice session with the twelfth -Kent- and twenty-second -Ajo- fastest times in the combined classification.
Only 40 minutes of free practice were made available for the Moto3 riders at the Losail Circuit on Friday. Danny Kent and Niklas Ajo had a single session with their bikes today, compared to two on Thursday. The Briton was eleventh fastest in the session and Ajo was twentieth, putting them twelfth and twenty-second in the overall classification for the weekend so far. Only the Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo rider could lower his time from yesterday.
The last practice session allowed Danny Kent to take a step forward with the setup of his Husqvarna. However, it was not until the tenth of fourteen laps completed that the British rider placed momentarily inside the top three, after taking his best time of the weekend so far -2:07.040.
Meanwhile, Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo rider Niklas Ajo had a difficult time. He was twentieth with a 2:07.914 lap, experiencing some riding problems which did not allow him to go fast. Later he was scraped lightly by another rider and was unable to best his top time from Thursday.
Tomorrow the first qualifying session of the season will be held from 6pm local time. At Losail, Kent and Ajo’s best starts both came in 2012, with a fourth and second row, respectively.
Results – FP3
1. Romano Fenati (KTM) 2:06.121
2. Alex Rins (Honda) 2:06.182 +0.061
3. Alex Marquez (Honda) 2:06.273 +0.152
4. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:06.280 +0.159
5. Jakub Kornfeil (KTM) 2:06.323 +0.202
11. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) 2:07.040 +0.919
20. Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo) 2:07.914 +1.793
Results (Combined practice time FP1-FP2-FP3)
1. Romano Fenati (KTM) 2:06.121
2. Alex Rins (Honda) 2:06.182 +0.061
3. Jakub Kornfeil (KTM) 2:06.190 +0.069
4. Alex Marquez (Honda) 2:06.273 +0.152
5. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:06.280 +0.159
12. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) 2:07.040 +0.919
22. Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo) 2’07.861 +1.740
Danny Kent – Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo – Audio
“I’m not very happy with today. We still have problems with the bike and we need to improve, because we are 0.9s off the top and at the tests we were closer than that. I believe that we are not getting the maximum out of the bike, and also in today’s session we were not able to find the perfect setup. However, we have also seen that we can set a good time by ourselves. I feel positive, tomorrow is another day and we shall see if we can resolve any doubts from tonight. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
Audio
Niklas Ajo – Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo – Audio
“The session today was not very good. Tomorrow we have to concentrate and try to recover the feeling from yesterday, because today we tried to change my riding style a little but things went wrong. It’s better to focus on our own way of doing things and not pay much attention to whatever the others say. We need to get a good feel back, because I was lost with the change today and my confidence dipped. I have to concentrate more ongoing about things my own way.”
*Audio solely for radio use