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Salmela fastest at Spielberg in Rookies Qualifying

Salmela Fastest At Spielberg In Rookies Qualifying

Rico Salmela sits in pole position for the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup home races in Austria. Alongside the 16-year-old Finn, second fastest, is 17-year-old Alvaro Carpe. Fellow Spaniard, 16-year-old Màximo Quiles completes the Spielberg front row.

Cup points leader Brian Uriarte has work to do, starting from Row 3 after qualifying 9th.

KTM’s home track is a favourite of Salmela 
“That was good, so from P2 I rode all the sessions alone. Because I crashed in FP1 and I didn’t get many laps so I went alone to get the feeling. This track has always been good for me, and I got a decent pace in Quali. I didn’t get the slipstream but I had riders in front, I could see them and chase them.”

“So the times were good, one lap on 44 zero and many laps around 44.4. The bike feels really good and I feel really good for tomorrow. Thanks to everyone.”

Carpe impressed with Salmela and himself
“I’m really happy, all day I was pushing, finding the limit. I found it in Qualifying. It was a fast session, Rico did an amazing lap and for me to be 0.1 from that is not so bad. It was a good day because my feeling with the KTM was improving session by session and we changed my sprocket in F2 to find the best gearing and I am very happy to be starting in the front row after two poles in the last two races.”

“I like this track, last year I won my first Rookie race here, I led all the laps. In Race 2 I was also leading and finished second. It’s a very special circuit for me.”

Quiles found the limit
“I made a good job I think. I have a good feeling after the summer break. I have a great feeling with the bike. In Quali, when I started pushing really hard I got quite a lot of chatter, I was going for the pole on the last lap I was so crazy in Turn 9 that the front tyre closed and I went off almost into the gravel.”

“This is racing and now I know the limit of the bike,” he laughed. “I will talk to Aitor (Lafoz, suspension engineer) and see if we should change something for the race. It was only a real problem late on when the tyres were worn.”

Veda Pratama chased hard to take 4th
“It’s not an easy circuit to learn but step by step I am getting there,” explained the 15-year-old Indonesian. “I lost a lot of laps in FP1 because I crashed at the beginning of the session. So in FP2 I had to find the good lines and managed to work it out. So then in Qualifying I found some good guys to follow and managed a good lap time so I am happy with the result today.”

“The bike is good, not perfect so I think that for Race 1 we will try a change to the rear suspension and see if that helps.”

Valentin Perrone will go for it
“Not so bad, P5 I think,” enthused the Argentine 16-year-old. “Good for tomorrow, starting in the front. I have good pace, I’m happy about that and tomorrow I will try to push like crazy to try and break the group and we’ll see if I can manage that.”

“I like the track, I am comfortable with the bike so very much looking forward to the race. It’s my first time here and tricky to learn, up and down, difficult corners but I think I have it learnt not so bad so let’s race.”

Marco Morelli got there in the end
“Not so bad, I think we finished the day well after putting in a bit of work,” explained the 17-year-old Argentine. “In the morning it was a bit difficult and also in FP2 I was not so confident with the bike. But we made a little change on the rear suspension and that helped, I made a step forward and I am happy to be on the second row. A good improvement over last year and I am closer to the front. I’ll try to stay in the front group and see what I can do in the last laps.”

Born Racers is where the Rookies Cup gets real

For more info checkout our dedicated Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup News page Rookies Cup News

Or visit the official Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup website rookiescup.redbull.com/

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