Confidently into the termas challenge
The changeable conditions at the Autodromo Termas de Rio Hondo not only made the first day of practice a treacherous endeavour, but also the qualifying sessions, in which LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP riders David Muñoz and Guido Pini finished seventh and ninth in Q1.
David Muñoz's qualifying position played a subordinate role this weekend, as he will have to start his race from pit lane due to a penalty from the Thailand GP. Nevertheless, the 18-year-old Spaniard is confident for the 18-lap race on Sunday at 12:00 local time (16:00 CET), having focussed on his race pace and his feeling for the KTM from the start onwards. Even a small slide in Friday's qualifying session did not unsettle him and he made good progress on Saturday with second place in FP2 before taking seventh position in the afternoon's Qualifying 1, which was affected by light rain.
Moto3 rookie Guido Pini also tried to steadily improve his feeling while at the same time studying the unfamiliar and demanding track. On the changeable Friday, the 17-year-old set a personal best of 1'49.579, which he improved to 1'47.771 in FP2 on Saturday. Unfortunately, light rain once again fell over the province of Santiago del Estero shortly before qualifying, which made for unclear conditions in Q1. In the end, he finished ninth in Q1 and 22nd on the grid in row 8, which means that the youngster will have to keep calm and find his rhythm in the turmoil at the start.
Results
FP1
1. David MUÑOZ/ SPA/ KTM – 1'57.363
2. Jose Antonio RUEDA/ SPA/ KTM – 1'57.624 (+0.261)
3. David ALMANSA/ SPA/ HONDA – 1'57.797 (+0.434)
23. Guido PINI/ ITA/ KTM – 2'01.577 (+4.214)
PR
1. David ALMANSA/ SPA/ HONDA – 1'46.981
2. Alvaro CARPE/ SPA/ KTM – 1'47.345 (+0.364)
3. Jose Antonio RUEDA/ SPA/ KTM – 1'47.451 (+0.470)
15. David MUÑOZ/ SPA/ KTM – 1'48.382 (+1.401)
26. Guido PINI/ ITA/ KTM – 1'49.579 (+2.598)
FP2
1. Matteo BERTELLE/ ITA/ KTM – 1'46.303
2. David MUÑOZ/ SPA/ KTM – 1'47.044 (+0.741)
3. Stefano NEPA/ ITA/ HONDA – 1'47.074 (+0.771)
15. Guido PINI/ ITA/ KTM – 1'47.771 (+1.468)
Q1
1. Matteo BERTELLE/ ITA/ KTM – 1'47.687
2. Marcos URIARTE/ SPA/ HONDA – 1'48.149 (+0.462)
3. Taiyo FURUSATO/ JPN/ HONDA – 1'48.199 (+0.512)
7. David MUÑOZ/ SPA/ KTM – 1'48.473 (+0.786)
9. Guido PINI/ ITA/ KTM – 1'49.467 (+1.780)
