The CarXpert PrüstelGP team starts the Aragon GP from positions 11 and 27.
At around 20°C Filip Salac and Ryusei Yamanaka started into the third free practice of the Aragon GP this morning. With a strong performance both riders of the CarXpert PrüstelGP team wanted to make it directly into Q2 – however, various duels and some tricky situations caused both Salac and Yamanaka to have to go the way through Q1. While Yamanaka finished the first qualifying session in 13th place and thus was not allowed to start in Q2, Salac showed a good rhythm on the other side of the box and fought his way into the next qualifying round by finishing 2nd. The Czech will start tomorrow’s race from 11th place on Sunday, while Yamanaka will start from the 9th row with P27.
Filip Salac #12 (P11 | +0.751s)
“I had a good start to the day today with the third free practice session. We then put on new tires in the last run – but unfortunately I wasn’t able to do a free lap with them. I was fast in the corners, but unfortunately I kept losing speed on the straights. Apart of that, some duels held me up as well. With 20th place in FP3, I therefore had to go via Q1. I did well, setting the first fast lap at the beginning of Q1 and so I qualified for Q2 with a second place. In the end, I will start the race from P11, which is definitely a good starting position. Many thanks to the team for their extremely good work! I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Ryusei Yamanaka #6 (P27 | +2.177)
“In FP3 we were able to optimize a few things on the bike. I felt really good – so it’s a shame I didn’t make it straight into Q2. I then tried to attack and push right from the start in Q1, which led to some tricky situations. Once I almost had a highsider, which of course I would like to avoid, especially because of my shoulder which is still not a 100% fit. I became a bit more careful again and therefore didn’t manage to set a really fast time for Q2. Now I start the race from 27th place, which is certainly not ideal. But I’m still fully motivated and will give everything tomorrow to make up as many places as possible in the race now that my shoulder is much more resilient again.”
Pictures by © [2021] RLekl
