14/05/2022

Schrötter leads the fifth row of the grid into the French Grand Prix

The LIQUI MOLY Intact GP duo of Marcel Schrötter and Jeremy Alcoba positioned themselves on rows five and nine for the seventh World Championship round of the 2022 season in once again sunny conditions.

As always, there was a lot of set-up work to be done in the third and final free practice session on Saturday morning in order to prepare the two LIQUI MOLY Intact GP Kalex bikes for the subsequent qualifying session at the French Grand Prix.

After a strong P6 start on Friday, Marcel Schrötter's crew tried a few things on the German's bike that turned out to be not ideal. Nevertheless, the Moto2 rider delivered an almost flawless ride on Saturday after having to leave two small slips behind from the day before. However, with P16 in FP3, he did not manage to beat his best time of 1'36.589 from FP2. His start in Q2 was never in danger, and so the Bavarian gave his all in the short, 15-minute qualifying session, in which you have to deliver perfectly on demand. His 13th grid position on row five is nevertheless promising when you look at his race pace this season. Anything is possible and the 29-year-old knows that too, therefore he is looking forward to thrilling duels on Sunday and hopes to be able to push far into the Top10.

Similarly hopeful, Jeremy Alcoba is aiming to make up ground from grid position 27 when the lights go out for the 25-lap race at 12:20 (CEST). Beforehand, the Youngster and his crew will analyse all the data from the weekend so far and do everything they can to ensure that the 20-year-old starts on Sunday with an optimum race set-up. He will try to reduce his gap of 1.302s to pole setter Pedro Acosta in the morning warm-up.

The strength of both LIQUI MOLY Intact GP riders lies in their race performance, so the French Grand Prix should also offer the potential for many world championship points.

FP3:
1. Pedro ACOSTA / SPA / KALEX - 1'35.861
2. Augusto FERNANDEZ / SPA / KALEX - 1'36.005 (+0.144)
3. Somkiat CHANTRA / THA / KALEX - 1'36.144 (+0.283)
16. Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / KALEX - 1'36.665 (+0.804)
26. Jeremy ALCOBA / SPA / KALEX - 1'37.449 (+1.588)

Q1:
1. Lorenzo DALLA PORTA / ITA / KALEX - 1'36.259
2. Fermín ALDEGUER / SPA / BOSCOSCURO - 1'36.278 (+0.019)
3. Bo BENDSNEYDER / NED / KALEX - 1'36.297 (+0.038)
13. Jeremy ALCOBA / SPA / KALEX - 1'37.105 (+0.846)

Q2:
1. Pedro ACOSTA / SPA / KALEX - 1'35.803
2. Jake DIXON / GBR / KALEX - 1'35.921 (+0.118)
3. Augusto FERNANDEZ / SPA / KALEX - 1'35.963 (+0.160)
13. Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / KALEX - 1'36.502 (+0.699)

Marcel Schrötter

P13 - 1'36.502 (+0.699s)

"Unfortunately, it was not an outstanding qualifying session again, but I made no mistakes and had a solid practice. I think the tyre change was the right decision as well because we didn't lose much time with it. I gave it my maximum, but I couldn't go any faster. We tried something this morning in order to change and improve, but I struggled. I didn't feel very comfortable this morning, so we went back to yesterday's base set-up for qualifying. So the bike was a bit different compared to this morning and the difference was noticeable, but to go out and do everything in 2-3 laps is not so easy. But I gave my best, especially in the first sector I didn't feel very comfortable and in the first fast corner, I had no confidence in the front. When you lose three tenths in the first sector already, it's difficult to make up for it in the end.
There are still some aspects that we have to and can improve. But the confidence in the first fast corner, I'm sure we can find something and that's positive. We are not miles away. The top is obviously very quick, but outside the top 3 it's not so wild and despite 13th place, it wasn't a disaster in qualifying. We can't expect to just ride a different strategy, focus on ourselves and then all of a sudden finish in the top 3. Of course, you always hope for a bit more, because yesterday was also solid, but this morning, with the changes, I didn't feel very comfortable. Of course, we're aiming for the top 10, so we'll keep our heads high, keep fighting and at the end of the day we know that our pace is good. The race will certainly not be a foregone conclusion like the last one in Jerez, but we will go full gas, fight and see that we make another good race tomorrow. We also need to keep working on ourselves in Barcelona so that the qualifying sessions are more stable."

Jeremy Alcoba

P27 - 1'37.105 (+1.302)

"The work was difficult because understanding why we are slow is not easy. In the end, it's only some tenths in one corner and some on the others but it adds up and if we would bring it all together, we could clearly be faster but it's easier said than done out on track. Maybe I need to be more relaxed and calm. We are working on the bike but the feeling has more or less been the same, so we need to understand it much better for tomorrow. The position was good but I pushed too much and sadly the last lap time wasn't anywhere near as good. But I know I gave it my best so now we will see the data and study for tomorrow. I hope we can have a comeback like in the previous races but this weekend doesn't feel like the others but we will see what happens when we give our best in the race"

Pictures Le Mans GP

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