Ajo Motorsport starts big weekend at MotorLand Aragon with seventh place on Friday.

Zarco, Aragon Moto2 2015

On Sunday at MotorLand Aragon, Johann Zarco will have the first chance to clinch the Moto2 title for which he has been fighting from day one this season. Before that can happen, there remains work to be done. That work started on Friday with the first free practice sessions for the Aragon GP, in which the Ajo Motorsport rider set the seventh fastest time on the combined timesheets after constant improvement.

FP1 for the fourteenth round of the season saw many riders out on track with recent testing experience at this weekend’s venue. Zarco was not one of them, and he started from scratch on Friday morning. The Frenchman and his team undertook their first laps at the track this year with their Kalex in the opening session, and claimed the sixth fastest time -1:54.487.

In the afternoon, the Frenchman was able to try both tyre compounds in order to analyse and prepare for qualifying tomorrow and the all-important Sunday race. It was on his second stint that he improved his morning lap for the first time, and he would put in a further 3 laps in the 1:53s. The best of these was some seven tenths faster than his FP1 time: 1:53.775.

After the first day of the Aragon GP, Johann Zarco will tomorrow chase his seventh pole position of the season -and a fourth straight front row- when Moto2 qualifying gets underway at 3:05pm.

Results (Combined practice time FP1-FP2)
1. Tito Rabat (Kalex) 1:53.164
2. Takaaki Nakagami (Kalex) 1:53.299 +0.135
3. Alex Rins (Kalex) 1:53.352 +0.188
4. Simone Corsi (Kalex) 1:53.372 +0.208
5. Sam Lowes (Speed Up) 1:53.541 +0.377
7. Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) 1:53.775 +0.611

Johann Zarco,
“I think the difference in times today is because others have tested recently at this circuit, so they have more of their work already done with respect to us. That is why we knew that the first day would be difficult. I have to be calm and find the best setup possible. If I give good information to the team, it will be good for qualifying and for the race. This circuit is faster than Misano, so we have to find the correct setting. We have used both types of tyre and we’re working as we do at every Grand Prix.

I don’t feel bad on the bike, but we are not as fast as we could be. We must improve push more in order to go faster. It’s been a year since I rode at this track, so we need more time. Tomorrow we will be ready to improve.”