Jorge Martin goes straight into Q2 and qualifies on the fourth row of the grid for the Teruel Grand Prix, with teammate Tetsuta Nagashima in ninth.

The Grand Prix of Teruel starting grid for the Moto2 class was decided on Saturday and the positive performance of Red Bull KTM Ajo and Jorge Martin in Free Practice allowed the Spaniard to enter into Q2 directly. In that session, he earned a spot on the fourth row of the grid, in 12th. The team did a great job repairing Nagashima’s bike after a heavy crash in FP3, and the Japanese rider finished 11th in Q1, claiming 25th place and a position on Row 9 for tomorrow’s race.

In the morning, Martin made solid progress from the start to the final part of FP3, lowering his lap times from Friday on his final attempt. The Spaniard stopped the clock at 1:52.035, taking him to seventh position after 16 laps of the Aragonese track. Nagashima had his practice time reduced after suffering a crash in the 17th minute, while going through Turn 2. He escaped uninjured from the incident, but damage to his bike prevented him from remounting. The Japanese finished 25th with a 1:53.316, set before the incident.

In Q2, Martin was among the fastest riders at the beginning of the session. However, traffic late on prevented him from lowering his times and he ended the run in 12th position, setting a 1:51.990 lap. Thanks to this result, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider will start from the 4th row of the grid. Nagashima had to contest Q1, in which he was 11th with a 1:52.618 lap. The Japanese will take off from Row 9, in 25th place.

The 21-lap Moto2 Teruel Grand Prix will begin tomorrow at 2:30 pm local time.

Results – QP
1. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:51.296
2. Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) 1:51.512 +0.216
3. Remy Gardner (Kalex) 1:51.711 +0.415
4. Fabio di Giannantonio (Speed Up) 1:51.720 +0.424
5. Marcos Ramirez (Kalex) 1:51.721 +0.425
12. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:51.990 +0.694
25. Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:52.618 (Q1 time)

88 JORGE MARTIN

“We have a good pace for the race, even though today was not an easy day for us. I wasn’t completely comfortable in the qualifying session, so we have to work to find the best setup for the weekend. However, I am confident in our ability to fight back and have a positive race tomorrow.”

45 TETSUTA NAGASHIMA

“It was a tough Saturday for us, in which we suffered a lot. The bike is working well and I feel good on it, so we don’t understand exactly why we are losing so much time on some sectors. We have to analyse the data that we gathered today and try to take a step forward. We are not that far off, but we have to work hard and improve some aspects if we want to be further up the order.”