After yesterday’s mixed weather conditions, PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team’s MotoGP riders were able to enjoy a day of dry running around the Spielberg circuit. Valentino Rossi will start the StyrianGP from 17th on the grid, while Cal Crutchlow will line up 23rd.
Rossi was quick to improve upon his FP1 time at the outset of today’s FP3, continuing to better his time throughout the session. At the end of the 45 minutes his best time of 1min 24.381secs placed him inside the Q1 places – 19th. After racking up more laps in the dry conditions of FP4, Valentino continued to consistently reduce his lap time around the Spielberg circuit in Q2. The Italian ended the session seventh with a 1min 24.097secs lap, which translates to seventeenth place on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
In FP3 Crutchlow also immediately improved upon his time from yesterday morning and continued to set personal best laps throughout the session. The Brit was back out in Q1 after setting the 23rd fastest FP3 time – 1min 24.644secs. After setting a series of consistent laps and gaining valuable data in FP4, Cal set a time of 1min 24.513secs in his first qualifying session aboard the PETRONAS Yamaha SRT machine. This saw him end Q1 13th and he will start tomorrow’s race from 23rd.
Cal Crutchlow
We knew it was going to be difficult and I did have a little bit of arm pump, but that’s normal for me. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised with today and I’m feeling okay. I did have some difficulties in qualifying where I was ruining the corners with my riding style, but I was good in FP4. It just shows that with time on the bike I can improve. We’re going to have a look at some things tonight and see what we can do. The whole team have been doing a good job and it’s nice to work with some familiar faces: Wilco [Zeelenberg], Johan [Stigefelt] and three of the mechanics. I think tomorrow will be difficult with the weather but I’ll just aim to get into a good rhythm and enjoy the race.
Results Q1 & Q2 combined
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Jorge MARTIN | Pramac Racing | 1’22.994 |
| 2 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati Lenovo Team | 1’23.038 |
| 3 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’23.075 |
| 4 | Jack MILLER | Ducati Lenovo Team | 1’23.300 |
| 5 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’23.322 |
| 6 | Johann ZARCO | Pramac Racing | 1’23.376 |
| 7 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’23.448 |
| 8 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 1’23.489 |
| 9 | Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1’23.508 |
| 10 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1’23.536 |
| 11 | Alex MARQUEZ | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1’23.841 |
| 12 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’23.944 |
| 13 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1’23.585 |
| 14 | Dani PEDROSA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’23.730 |
| 15 | Pol ESPARGARO | Repsol Honda Team | 1’23.971 |
| 16 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1’24.050 |
| 17 | Valentino ROSSI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’24.097 |
| 18 | Luca MARINI | SKY VR46 Avintia | 1’24.115 |
| 19 | Iker LECUONA | Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing | 1’24.141 |
| 20 | Enea BASTIANINI | Avintia Esponsorama | 1’24.245 |
| 21 | Lorenzo SAVADORI | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1’24.405 |
| 22 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing | 1’24.465 |
| 23 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1’24.513 |
Source: sepangracingteam.com, motogp.com