06 August 2022 – Silverstone Circuit – Great Britain

The Moto3 qualifying ended on the almost six kilometers of the Silverstone Circuit, with Ayumu and John finishing ninth and tenth respectively.

In the last practice sessions, held this morning with a temperature, which reached 26 º C on the ground, Ayumu had a great improvement, managing to get the sixth position in the combined. John unfortunately took the checkered flag in the decisive time attack, so he could not lower the excellent time achieved yesterday. In any case, the best lap obtained yesterday, allowed John to occupy the third position of the combined classification. With these two excellent performances John and Ayumu gained direct access to qualifying 2.

The temperature during the day increased slowly, to reach 41 ºC, recorded at the beginning of Q2. During qualifying many drivers tried to implement a kind of strategy, in order to take advantage of the slipstream, which on the two long straights of the Silverstone Circuit, for the small Moto3, becomes decisive. Ayumu completed five laps, gradually improving his lap times and getting on the last lap his best lap, equal to 2’11.457. Our Japanese driver has a lag from poleman D. Moreira of 0.506 s. John’s best lap is a tenth slower, precisely 0.103 s. 2’11.560 is his best lap and 0.609 s is the gap from the lead.

These are the words of Ayumu, John and Max Biaggi, our Team Owner.

AYUMU SASAKI : “I am happy about today. We knew, coming to this qualifying that it would have been quite difficult, because we have many straight here, so my target was to drive alone and to make some decent laps, which put me in P9. I know I could have done a little bit better, so I am a little bit disappointed with myself, but for tomorrow we know that we have a great speed, so I am happy with that. Let’s see what I can do in the race.”

JOHN MCPHEE : “Honestly I hoped for a little bit more in qualifying. We know already that being in front 3 and front 4 row in Moto3 is good enough, but I had the speed to be faster. I tried to push, and to find a good position in the group, but it was impossible, so I decided to go alone. When I pushed I got some riders riding slowly so that is the reason I could not go faster or at the same speed If yesterday. Anyway, I feel good on the bike, I feel positive about the race. I think I can be strong for all the race distances, so we look forward to tomorrow, that will be the most important day.”

MAX BIAGGI – TEAM OWNER : “Today I expected a better result from our drivers. Yesterday John got a great time, but today unfortunately he failed to repeat himself. Ayumu has improved a lot and tomorrow he will start ninth. The race is very long, and the tactic will be decisive, in order to preserve the tires in the last laps. We have to work so that both Ayumu and John can fight in the leading positions throughout the race.”

Results Monster Energy British Grand Prix 2022 – Qualifying

Pole – Diogo MOREIRA (KTM) 2’10.951, 9. Ayumu SASAKI (Husqvarna) 2’11.457, 10. John MCPHEE (Husqvarna) 2’11.560.