Red Bull Rookies: In the blistering Mugello heat, Brian Uriarte ended his wait for pole and finally sits on the lead KTM tomorrow for the 7th Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race of the year.
The 16-year-old Spaniard had 0.109 seconds over Indonesian Veda Pratama and another 0.063 on American Kristian Daniel Jr. making it an all 16-year-old front row.
Australian Carter Thompson heads the second row with Cup points leader Hakim Danish 5th. Aragón double podium man David González is 6th.
Brian Uriarte 1st
“It’s been a long wait to get pole. I won my 3rd Rookies Cup race, but only now get to sit on pole. And I think I have done it at the toughest track of the season to make the best lap time. It is long, you need the slipstream at the right time.”
“Also, I made some mistakes, so I think that perhaps there are a few 100ths still to improve, but not more. I am happy enough with the bike for the race, but somehow I don’t quite have the same feeling as last year. I have improved for sure, but there is still a touch that I can’t find.”
Veda Pratama 2nd
“I felt more comfortable in Qualifying because in FP1, I was not comfortable. In FP2, it was better and Qualifying, better again. I was trying different things, looking for the best line, the best body position for the Qualifying and it got better. The bike is good, but I think perhaps it can be better, so we will talk about it and see if we should try some small changes. The bike is like 80%, almost ready for the race. But I’m happy with the result, happy to be P2.”
Kristian Daniel Jr. 3rd
“Really happy. I improved the Qualifying from Aragon, which was P5, which was my best, so I’m happy I’m showing progression. I managed it really well and I just pushed as much as I could. And at the beginning, I went out alone just to get the feeling because we hadn’t gone with the new tyres. So I got the feeling and was up there, I think I was for a few laps, maybe in P1, battling with Brian and Veda. This track is so long that as long as you’re in the top five, you’re fine. But I’m glad I got that front row because it’s always nice to get it for the first time.”
Carter Thompson 4th
“Not too bad in the end,” stated the Australian 17-year-old. “I’ve got a good feeling now, so looking forward to tomorrow, just a few things still got to work on. We’ll talk about it and see if we should make any changes. Maybe a few little ones just to help with the handling. The bike’s just not absorbing the bumps at the moment like I want it to, so just try and work on that for tomorrow.”
Hakim Danish 5th
“Yeah, in the Qualifying today it was a little bit difficult because there were a lot of riders in a big group slowing us down,” explained the 17-year-old Malaysian. “So I tried to do my own fast time and I feel good with that time because I did it alone. I feel happy with the bike and I think I will try to do better in the race. I am ready for that. It might be a big group, but let’s see if some of us can push harder and break it up.”
Broadcast
This weekend’s Rookies Cup races can be seen live on www.redbull.tv and on TV stations around the world.
Race 1 is at 16:10 CET on Saturday and Race 2 is on Sunday at 08:45, the show starts 10 minutes before the race.
For more info checkout our dedicated Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup News page Red Bull Rookies Cup News
Or visit the official Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup website rookiescup.redbull.com/
