Danny Kent to start from seventh row after placing nineteenth in the qualifying practice

Yesterday he concluded the first day of practice with the best overall lap time, and today Niklas Ajo took a place on the second row of the grid. With the fifth fastest time, Ajo equalled his best ever qualifying performance. Danny Kent, who felt more comfortable in the practice session than in the afternoon, placed nineteenth and will start from the seventh row tomorrow.

Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo rider Danny Kent took an important step forward in the last 40 minutes of free practice in the morning, where on his last attempt he set his best lap of the weekend: 1:51.480. That gave him sixth on the timesheet. Just 0.105s behind him was Niklas Ajo, who also lowered his times from yesterday.

From the first 20 minutes of the qualifying session, Niklas Ajo was up in the Top 5. The Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo rider improved twice in the session, clocking a final time of 1:51.308. Meanwhile, Danny Kent was unable to match his morning time -after making some changes to his bike that did not go as well as expected. With a 1:52.251 lap, the Briton was nineteenth.

Danny Kent and especially Niklas Ajo, who achieved his best result in the World Championship at Mugello with fifth place, are optimistic about the race, which starts at 11.00am.

Results – QP
1. Alex Marquez (Honda) 1:50.232
2. Enea Bastianini (KTM) 1:50.850 +0.618
3. Alex Rins (Honda) 1:50.912 +0.680
4. Brad Binder (Mahindra) 1:50.912 +0.792
5. Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo) 1:51.308 +1.076
19. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) 1:52.251 +2.019

Danny Kent  – Audio (solely for radio use)
“The truth is that I felt better in free practice in the morning, where I went 0.8 seconds faster than in the qualifying session. I’m not happy with how we did in the afternoon, because we made a change and we did not feel any improvement –in fact, quite the opposite. So tomorrow we will return to the setup from the morning, with which we can go fast. Marquez is a bit far ahead of the rest of the field, but if we are as fast as we were this morning then we can get a very good race result.”

Niklas Ajo – Audio (solely for radio use)
“This weekend has been going very well since the beginning, as I’ve always been up in the top positions. However, we still have work to do for tomorrow, especially on the fast corners like the last one, where I’m still not entirely comfortable. It is important to address this issue ahead of the race. We have to contrast my feeling with the telemetry this evening. Anyway, I’m happy and I hope to be up in the lead group and fighting for the podium.”