Niklas Ajo completes first day of Aragon Grand Prix with third fastest time. Danny Kent satisfied in ninth.

Niklas Ajo and Danny Kent made a positive start to the weekend at MotorLand Aragon, no rx the scene of the fourteenth round on the Moto3 calendar. The Husqvarna riders took third and ninth, order respectively, order in the combined timesheet for the opening two practice sessions. Both were also pleased with the pace they achieved.

It was an interesting first session for the Husqvarna riders, who from the off felt comfortable on their bikes. Ajo came out strong, scoring the first two fastest laps of the session. Kent waited until the halfway mark in the runout to move into the top three. Finally, the Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo rider finished eighth with a time of 2:00.793 and Ajo was twelfth with a 2:01.043.

The Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo rider took an important step forward in the afternoon, setting his best lap of the day with a 1:58.885 on his final stint. That lap made him one of only two riders to complete more than one lap in the 1:58s, and he was just 0.097s off the top time. Less than half a second behind was Danny Kent, with a 1:59.242 for ninth place and a 1.5s improvement on his morning best.

Tomorrow’s qualifying session takes place at 12:35pm. In San Marino, Niklas Ajo achieved the best grid position of his career to date, with second place.

Results (Combined practice time FP1-FP2)
1. Alex Rins (Honda) 1:58.788
2. Alex Marquez (Honda) 1:58.806 +0.018
3. Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo) 1:58.885 +0.097
4. Juanfran Guevara (Kalex KTM) 1:58.932 +0.144
5. Enea Bastinini (KTM) 1:58.985 +0.197
9. Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) 1:59.242 +0.454

Danny Kent >> Audio (solely for radio use)

“It was a very positive day for us. I had a good feeling on the bike. In the second practice session we put new tyres on too early, I think. We set a reference time, we were on top, but then the other riders also put on new tyres and they moved ahead of us. At this track it is very important to find a good slipstream. You can lose 4 tenths easily if you do not use a slipstream down the main straight. There are also some corners where we need to improve our lines and braking. The feeling is nevertheless very good and, if we continue like this, I think we can have a great weekend.”

Niklas Ajo >> Audio (solely for radio use)

“At Misano we had a great pace, but could not finish off our work from practice with a good race result. The feeling today was very similar to that of the weekend in San Marino. We started strongly with a good pace, thanks in part to the setup which worked very well. The findings have been very good and we have to keep working well for tomorrow and try to improve a little -especially with the gearbox. Perhaps we can gain some speed on the straight if we make the right adjustments. I hope this will improve the bike a little. We will try to finish off the setup for tomorrow.”