Red Bull KTM Ajo head starting grid with one-two in Barcelona
05/06/2021Gardner claims his second pole position of the 2021 Moto2 World Championship season at the Catalan GP, with teammate Fernandez in second place.
Qualifying for the Catalan Grand Prix took place on Saturday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 enjoyed another superb day. Remy Gardner achieved a record pole position – his fifth of his career and the second of the 2021 World Championship season. Teammate Raul Fernandez secured an excellent second place on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 stars set out their stall as the riders to beat on Saturday, with an impressive FP3 session in which they improved on their times from Friday. Gardner was the fastest in the practice, stopping the clock at 1:43.446 on his 14th attempt from 16. Just 0,021 thousandths behind was Fernandez, second thanks to a 1:43.467. The Spaniard completed 18 laps of the Catalan track.
The duo both secured spots in Qualifying 2 directly, after heading the combined Free Practice timesheets. In that session, Gardner proved to be one step ahead, clinching the pole position after breaking the circuit record with an impressive 1:42.977. Fernandez was second, only 1 tenth behind his teammate, setting a 1:43.135 lap.
The 22-lap Moto2 Catalan Grand Prix gets underway at 2:30 PM local time on Sunday.
Results (Qualifying session)
1. Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:42.977
2. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:43.135 +0.158
3. Bo Bendsneyder (Kalex) 1:43.400 +0.423
4. Augusto Fernandez (Kalex) 1:43.501 +0.524
5. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Kalex) 1:43.566 +0.589
87 REMY GARDNER
“I’m very happy to take the pole position. It was a good lap; I didn’t expect it but we pushed hard and it went well. We have a strong pace for tomorrow, so we will fight for a great result and to get as many points as possible. Congratulations to the team and everyone who has helped us to achieve this today.”
25 RAUL FERNANDEZ
“I’m very happy. The aim was to try to fight for another front row, and we succeeded. We also showed that we have a good pace. Remy [Gardner] has a pretty strong pace, but we’ll see if we can compete with him. If we don’t manage to, then getting on the podium is a real and reachable goal.”