Salmela fastest in rookies qualifying in Spielberg

Rico Salmela is on pole position at the home race of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup in Austria. Alongside the 16-year-old Finn, 17-year-old Alvaro Carpe is second fastest. His Spanish compatriot Màximo Quiles completes the first row of the grid in Spielberg.

Cup points leader Brian Uriarte has his work cut out for him as he starts from row 3 after qualifying ninth.

KTM’s home track is one of Salmela’s favorite tracks

“That was good, so I rode all the sessions alone from P2. Since I crashed in FP1 and couldn’t do many laps, I rode alone to get a feel for it. This track has always been good for me and I set a decent pace in qualifying. I didn’t have a slipstream, but I had riders in front of me that I could see and chase.”

“So the times were good, one lap at 44.0 and many laps around 44.4. The bike feels really good and I’m in a really good mood for tomorrow. Thanks to everyone.”

Carpe impressed by Salmela and himself

“I’m really happy. I’ve been pushing all day and I’ve found my limit. I found that in qualifying. It was a fast session, Rico did a great lap and for me it’s not so bad to be 0.1 seconds behind. It was a good day because my feeling with the KTM has improved from session to session. We changed my sprocket in F2 to find the best gear ratio. I’m very happy to start on the front row after two poles in the last two races.”

“I like this track. Last year I won my first rookie race here and led all the laps. I was also in the lead in race 2 and finished second. This is a very special track for me.”

Quiles has found the limit

“I think I did a good job. I have a good feeling after the summer break. I have a great feeling with the bike. In qualifying, when I really pushed, there was quite a lot of chatter. I wanted to take pole on the last lap, but I was so crazy in turn 9 that the front tire slammed and I almost slid into the gravel.”

“This is racing and now I know the limits of the bike,” he laughed. “I’ll talk to Aitor (Lafoz, suspension engineer) and see if we should change anything for the race. It was only a real problem later when the tires were worn out.”

Veda Pratama chased hard and finished fourth

“The track is not easy to learn, but I’m progressing step by step,” explained the 15-year-old Indonesian. “I lost a lot of laps in FP1 because I crashed at the beginning of the session. So in FP2 I had to find the good lines and I managed that. In qualifying I found a few good guys to follow and managed a good lap time. So I’m happy with today’s result.”

“The bike is good but not perfect. I think we will try a change to the rear suspension for race 1 and see if that helps.”

Valentin Perrone will try

“Not too bad, P5 I think,” enthused the 16-year-old Argentinian. “Good for tomorrow to start at the front. I have a good pace, I’m happy about that and tomorrow I’ll try to push like crazy to break through the group and we’ll see if I can do that.”

“I like the track, I feel comfortable with the bike and I’m really looking forward to the race. It’s my first time here and it’s difficult to learn, up and down, difficult corners, but I think I’ve learned it, it’s not that bad, so let’s race.”

Marco Morelli finally made it

“Not too bad, I think we finished the day well after putting in a bit of work,” explained the 17-year-old Argentinian. “It was a bit difficult in the morning and also in FP2 I wasn’t so happy with the bike. But we made a small change to the rear suspension and that helped. I took a step forward and I’m happy to be on the second row. A good improvement from last year and I’m closer to the front. I’ll try to stay in the leading group and see what I can do in the final laps.”

Session for AUT RookiesCup QP