Team Suzuki Press Office – Aug 26.

Alex Rins: 13th – 2’01.285 (Q1)
Andrea Iannone: 15th – 2’01.567 (Q1)

The sunny but cool conditions this afternoon at Silverstone made the qualifying session of the British GP a very fast one, with reasonable improvements in the times. Alex Rins managed to finish in 13th place while Andrea Iannone is set in 15th.

The morning session had been deeply affected by the weather, with the track very cold and damp which prevented riders from properly lapping and testing for improvements. The result was that the combined classification didn’t see significant changes, and Iannone and Rins had to settle with yesterday’s positions and make it through the Q1 session.

The warmup in early afternoon saw Rins being competitive, immediately working to set his GSX-RR at the top of the sheets and maintaining a consistently fast pace on hard tyres. The Q1 session was a hard fought one, with many riders switching positions in the early minutes. However, Rins and Iannone were able to battle it out until the end, finishing in 13th and 15th positions respectively.

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“We should be happy because this weekend we made many improvements, but personally I’m a little disappointed because I believed the Q2 was achievable. Especially with Alex, we got very, very close. He missed the last attempt because he encountered some traffic on the track with another rider, but his performance was worthy of access to the top 12. Anyway, having got so close is a good sign. Alex as well had a positive FP2 yesterday and an even better FP4 today. His pace is very good and despite starting from 13th place, I believe he can have a good race if he manages to recover some positions and keep close to the pack. Andrea had some more difficulties; he got very close to the Q2 as well, but he is still suffering with some problems we have. We have to improve the exit of the corners to give him better confidence.”

Alex Rins
“It’s been a positive day but the weather this morning did affect our plans. I felt confident to be able to improve in FP3, but the track conditions didn’t allow for much work. We recovered in FP4. The pace and also the overall feeling with the GSX-RR were very good. We were missing a little something that we needed to get into the Q2, which is a shame, but the positive thing is that I’m really enjoying my Suzuki in this circuit and I feel good about tomorrow’s race.”

Andrea Iannone
“It was tough qualifying for us; we couldn’t be as fast as we hoped. We tried our best, but we still have some problems that we encountered yesterday which we have been unable to solve so far. We improved on some points since yesterday, but I´m still lacking some effectiveness in the exiting of the corners. We should find a better grip on the rear wheel that can allow us to employ our power. For sure we improved and we are getting better and better, but it´s still not enough. We have to work tonight and tomorrow morning to find some better solutions. I’m confident we have the potential.”

GP of Great Britain – Qualifying classification:
1. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team – 1’59.941
2. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 2’00.025 +0.084
3. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda – 2’00.106 +0.165
4. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 2’00.341 +0.400
5. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team – 2’00.399 +0.458
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – 2’00.572 +0.631
7. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – 2’00.578 +0.637
8. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 2’00.622 +0.681
9. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 2’00.764 +0.823
10. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 2’00.829 +0.888
11. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 2’01.378 +1.437
12. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing – 2’01.994 +2.053
13. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 2’01.285 (Q1)
14. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 2’01.340 (Q1)
15. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 2’01.567 (Q1)
16. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing – 2’01.669 (Q1)
17. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 2’01.672 (Q1)
18. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing – 2’01.770 (Q1)
19. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 2’02.017 (Q1)
20. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 2’02.037 (Q1)
21. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing – 2’02.185 (Q1)
22. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 2’02.211 (Q1)
23. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 2’02.787 (Q1)