Pini & Muñoz start from rows four and five at the Austrian Grand Prix
The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg once again proved to be a real challenge on Saturday. After an exciting Q2, the LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP duo Guido Pini and David Muñoz secured the eleventh and fourteenth place on the grid, putting them in the fourth and fifth rows for the thirteenth race of the season.
Guido Pini felt good on the 4.35-kilometre circuit in the heart of Styria right from the start: the Moto3 rookie impressed in FP1 with seventh place, sending out a strong signal at the beginning of the weekend. In Friday's qualifying, the Italian also finished in eighth place, securing his place in Q2. Despite some difficulties on Saturday, Pini confirmed his pace: with eleventh place in FP2 and then in qualifying, he consolidated his starting position. In the end, he was only 0.587 seconds behind pole-setter Valentin Perrone.
For David Muñoz, the weekend has been more mixed so far. The 19-year-old got off to a rather cautious start on Friday, finishing 22nd with a time of 1:42.371. But in the afternoon, he made an impressive comeback: with a time of 1:40.531, the Andalusian moved up to sixth place, securing himself a direct entry into Q2. He also confirmed sixth place in FP2 on Saturday before heading into the decisive 15 minutes of qualifying. Muñoz fought for every tenth of a second, but ultimately could not get beyond 14th place.
The current fifth-placed rider in the World Championship is not entirely satisfied with this result. Nevertheless, he is looking forward with confidence to the 20-lap race on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. (CEST). Together with his crew, he wants to fine-tune the last details to get the most out of the race.
Results
FP1
1. Angel PIQUERAS/ SPA/ KTM – 1'40.493
2. Valentin PERRONE/ ARG/ KTM – 1'40.668 (+0.175)
3. Alvaro CARPE/ SPA/ KTM – 1'40.734 (+0.241)
7. Guido PINI/ ITA/ KTM – 1'40.979 (+0.486)
22. David MUÑOZ/ SPA/ KTM – 1'42.371 (+1.878)
Practice
1. Angel PIQUERAS/ SPA/ KTM – 1'39.918
2. Valentin PERRONE/ ARG/ KTM – 1'40.076 (+0.158)
3. Ryusei YAMANAKA/ JPN/ KTM – 1'40.238 (+0.320)
6. David MUÑOZ/ SPA/ KTM – 1'40.531 (+0.613)
8. Guido PINI/ ITA/ KTM – 1'40.595 (+0.677)
FP2
1. Maximo QUILES/ SPA/ KTM – 1'39.639
2. Angel PIQUERAS/ SPA/ KTM – 1'39.787 (+0.148)
3. Valentin PERRONE/ ARG/ KTM – 1'39.805 (+0.166)
6. David MUÑOZ/ SPA/ KTM – 1'40.132 (+0.493)
11. Guido PINI/ ITA/ KTM – 1'40.509 (+0.870)
Q2
1. Valentin PERRONE/ ARG/ KTM – 1'39.938
2. Angel PIQUERAS/ SPA/ KTM – 1'39.984 (+0.046)
3. Ryusei YAMANAKA/ JPN/ KTM – 1'40.084 (+0.146)
11. Guido PINI/ ITA/ KTM – 1'40.525 (+0.587)
14. David MUÑOZ/ SPA/ KTM – 1'40.650 (+0.712)
