15/10/2022

Alcoba storms onto row 3 at Phillip Island & Schrötter confident after progress

LIQUI MOLY Intact GP youngster Jeremy Alcoba will tackle the Australian Grand Prix from a promising ninth place on the grid. Marcel Schrötter narrowly missed out on making it into Q2 despite a positive qualifying session.

Mostly sunny weather on Saturday at Phillip Island, let the Australian surfer island in all its glory.

Especially Jeremy Alcoba experienced a real upswing in the more pleasant conditions. In free practice in the morning, the young Spaniard first made it directly into Q2 with 12th place and then secured ninth place on the grid on row three in the afternoon with significantly less wind. A very promising starting position into the race for the rookie, who is racing on the track on the south coast of Australia for the first time.

At least at the end of the second day in Down Under, Marcel Schrötter had also regained confidence. After struggling significantly in FP3 and even posting a crash, the 29-year-old was a changed man in the afternoon. The feeling for his Kalex was back and the German missed Q2 in sixth place by just 0.084 seconds. Although 20th on the grid on row seven is anything but what the experienced Moto2 rider had imagined, anything is possible in Phillip Island and the chances of catching up to the front are high!

Results

FP3
1. Alonso LOPEZ / SPA / BOSCOSCURO - 1'32.616
2. Fermín ALDEGUER / SPA / BOSCOSCURO - 1'32.934 (+0.318)
3. Augusto FERNANDEZ / SPA / KALEX - 1'32.993 (+0.377)
4. Aron CANET / SPA / KALEX - 1'33.090 (+0.474)
5. Jake DIXON / GBR / KALEX - 1'33.194 (+0.578)
12. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX - 1'33.777 (+1.161)
22. Marcel SCHROTTER/ GER/ KALEX - 1'35.025 (+2.409)

Q1
1. Manuel GONZALEZ / SPA / KALEX - 1'33.162
2. Lorenzo DALLA PORTA / ITA / KALEX - 1'33.381 (+0.219)
3. Celestino VIETTI / ITA / KALEX - 1'33.392 (+0.230)
4. Somkiat CHANTRA / THA / KALEX - 1'33.515 (+0.353)
5. Albert ARENAS / SPA / KALEX - 1'33.598 (+0.436)
6. Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / KALEX - 1'33.599 (+0.437)

Q2
1. Fermín ALDEGUER / SPA / BOSCOSCURO - 1'32.233
2. Augusto FERNANDEZ / SPA / KALEX - 1'32.306 (+0.073)
3. Alonso LOPEZ / SPA / BOSCOSCURO - 1'32.543 (+0.310)
4. Tony ARBOLINO / ITA / KALEX - 1'32.721 (+0.488)
5. Aron CANET / SPA / KALEX - 1'32.837 (+0.604)
9. Jeremy ALCOBA/ SPA/ KALEX - 1'32.946 (+0.713)

Jeremy Alcoba

P9 (Q2) - 1'32.946 (+0.713)

"We're having a really good weekend again, like last race. We are doing a good job, I feel good even if it is a new track for me. This morning I improved on my best lap from yesterday alone. That gave me the impetus to risk a bit more and improve further to get straight into Q2. And then in qualifying I didn't have great expectations. Normally I am a bit nervous and struggle a bit. But during the session the wind became less than in Free Practice 3, I felt fantastic and could open the throttle when I wanted and with every lap I felt better and better. The last lap was pretty good. I think I could have gone even faster, but in the last corner and on the last straight I had to brake where you normally don't brake to avoid to come close to the other riders. As a result, I lost a few tenths that might have put us in the top 6. But in the end I'm really happy, I feel great with the bike and I'm looking forward to the race."

Marcel Schrötter

P6 (Q1) - 1'33.599 (+0.437)

"Of course I am disappointed with the final result today. This morning especially it was really not good, including the crash. But we made a step forward in the qualifying session, even if it was still not fast enough. I have already improved by one and a half seconds. If we had already been in a similar range in FP3, it would have looked very different for qualifying. It was still a positive session, even though we didn't make it into Q2, which was extremely close. My feeling was a lot better than this morning. I still had a lot of trouble there. In comparison, the lap time and progress in qualifying were much better. It's another complicated weekend. We're definitely not making it easy for ourselves. If I add four tenths to my current qualifying time, I'd be in tenth place. I'm hoping now that we can build on my good feeling tomorrow, have a positive warm-up and then show a successful race. It's a nice track to race on, we'll definitely try to score points."

Pictures Australian GP

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