Fifth row qualification slot for Smith at Brno

Posted on Aug 04, 2018 by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

The enduring and baking European summer remained firmly in place as MotoGP reconvened after a small two week hiatus to attempt the tenth round of nineteen on the 2018 calendar. The wide, quick curves of the Brno Circuit are again the stage for the popular Czech Republic fixture.

Red Bull KTM Factroy Racing Team wheeled out the KTM RC16 for both Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro as the riders attempted to find the best speed, traction and performance for only their second competitive blast around the 5.4km course.

Despite a small glitch in FP4 that limited his track time, Smith rode positively to record a circulation that left him in the final spot on the fifth row of the grid. The Brit will now analyse the conditions and climate to identify the best Michelin tyre choice for the 21 lap race on Sunday.

Bradley Smith (Factory Rider MotoGP):
“I felt good this morning and it was interesting to see that a few people struggled or slowed down in the afternoon while I was able to go a bit faster it shows good potential for tomorrow. FP4 was tricky because I didn't get many laps in and I’m not too sure on the tyre choice for tomorrow. The hard would be a safe option but it is not working so well on our bike at the moment. The soft would be a risk. We will have to wait and see.”

Sebastian Risse (Technical Director MotoGP):
“A turbulent start to the second half of the season and with some ups and downs. With Bradley the qualifying position was quite good and better than the last races; we know he can start brilliantly so let’s see where this leads us in the first laps. For Pol we went a bit back and forth with the lap-times but it is important to remember that qualification tyres and speed is one thing at this track; race pace is another. It was particularly obvious here and all weekend we were split between working on one-lap pace and race pace. We’ll see if our compromise is the right one, and we’ll try something else in the warm-up and focus on the tyres as much as possible. This was an area we wanted to look at closely with Bradley in FP4 but unfortunately a technical issue meant we couldn't. I think it won’t be so hot tomorrow so that should be good for us.”

Races: August 5, 2018 – Moto3 11:00 | Moto2 12:20 | MotoGP 14:00