Tech3 Racing Team rider Marcel Schrotter will launch from 18th position on the grid in what will be a fiercely competitive intermediate class race tomorrow at Silverstone after a tireless effort in qualifying today. The young German rider began the day positively as he rode the Mistral 610 to 13th in the morning FP3 session after making some positive steps forward with the setup of his Moto2 bike together with his Tech3 Racing Team. This left the 21 year old fully confident of the qualifying assault at the 5.9 kilometre circuit and when the 45 minute practice began, Schrotter got back into gear and pushed relentlessly. He undertook a total of 15 laps and sped to a top time of 2’07.582, which will see him begin the 12th round of the Moto2 World Championship from the rear of the sixth row. In addition, his time was only half a second from the back of the third row. From here, the German will seek to battle through the field and then complete the weekend with a points scoring finish.
On the other side of the Tech3 Racing Team garage, Spanish rookie Xavi Vierge will begin his first ever race outing at Silverstone from 24th on the grid after a determined effort in the qualifying today. The 18 year old rider started his day with a positive finish of 23rd in the morning practice after setting a best time of 2’08.784 that was only just over half a second from his teammate. When the all important 45 minute qualifying session began, the Spaniard leapt into action as he intended to clinch a good grid position for tomorrow’s race. After progressively lowering his time, he rode his personal best lap of 2’08.397 on his fifteenth out of 18, which will see him begin the race from the eight row aboard the Tech3 Racing Team’s self designed and built Mistral 610. The promising rookie will then aim to set into a solid race pace in order to complete the GP and gather some more valuable Moto2 World Championship experience.
Marcel Schrotter – Position : 18th – Time :2’07.582 – Laps : 15
“I am happy that we managed to make some progress today even though our final starting position is not as high as we would like it to be. During yesterday’s sessions as well as this morning, I felt comfortable on the bike again. I ran a good lap time in FP3 with another positive being that we had some spare tyres that we could use so I was feeling confident for qualifying. Therefore I am a little disappointed with the final result this afternoon. At the beginning of the session, I had a really strong pace and I was able to follow the leading riders. Furthermore, my fastest lap was over half a second quicker than this morning’s time, but I wasn’t able to improve further as the session continued, which is a real pity as the gap to 10th was not much. Having said that, we definitely made an improvement even if the final result is not a dream position. We just need some more track time and a bit of luck and we will be more competitive. Lets see what we can do tomorrow where I will try and fight for some points again.”
Xavi Vierge – Position : 24th – Time : 2’08.397 – Laps : 18
“Overall, I am happy with how the weekend has unfolded so far as I achieved my goal of making a good step forward whilst steadily reducing the gap to the leading bikes. As soon as we started yesterday, I was much more competitive than the previous two rounds and our rhythm in particular was stronger. This is our aim and we must continue to improve step by step whilst trying to get closer to Marcel’s level. I have to be pleased with the work we undertook today as it was another new circuit for me and the level in this category is really high. So we need to continue to be patient and I can’t miss the opportunity once again to thank the team as well as the sponsors as they are giving me this opportunity.”