Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Pol Espargaro produced a well executed performance in an extremely close qualifying today at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit to land 7th position on the grid for tomorrow’s race at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan. The 23 year old opened his Saturday account by skilfully concluding the morning practice in 3rd and less than three tenths from the leading time in sunny conditions. The young Spaniard’s determination continued into the afternoon, where he completed the FP4 session by finishing in 9th as he further worked on the setup of his Yamaha YZR-M1 for the race. Having sailed straight into Qualifying 2 courtesy of his FP3 performance, Espargaro put the hammer down and set a 1’44.867 time as he looked certain for a second row start, before being bumped down to 7th in the final seconds. This time will see the Spanish rider start from the top of the third line with his lap also being fractionally behind the front row by a mere tenth of a second with four other riders in this bracket up to 3rd. In addition, the reigning Moto2 world Champion’s time was impressively under the former lap record in his first appearance aboard a MotoGP bike at Motegi. Espargaro who seized his title here last year, will now look to undertake a strong performance tomorrow in round 15 of the World Championship by battling into the top five.

On the other hand, Bradley Smith completed today’s qualifying to clinch 10th for tomorrow’s race after a fiercely competitive MotoGP session in Japan. The British star began the day strongly, by finishing in 6th place in the morning practice having improved on his original FP1 time by over one and half seconds. In this session, Smith continued to work on establishing a comfortable setup on his Yamaha YZR-M1 with his Monster Yamaha Tech3 team, with his lap permitting him to sail straight through to Q2. When the qualifying began, the British rider fought relentlessly to gain a strong starting position for the action tomorrow at the hard braking Twin Ring Motegi track in front of the passionate Japanese crowd. His hard work resulted in his time being less than three tenths from third place in the tightly contested session and tomorrow Smith will begin the 24 lap battle from the head of the fourth row as he aims to fight for the accolade of the leading satellite bike at Yamaha’s home circuit.

Pol Espargaro - Position : 7th Time :1'44.867

"It was a very competitive session today which is clear to see by the tight gap to the front. However to finish in 7th is not bad at all, although of course it’s not as high as what I had aimed for. I made some small mistakes during my fast lap and without these I could have been much closer to the front, which would have made the race a little easier tomorrow. Yet, I will now have to concentrate and get a great start so that I can fight and work my way through the field with the most important factor being to overtake Iannone on the first lap. It’s vital to get past the Ducati because they are tough to pass due to being good on the brakes and in acceleration. My aim is to get behind the leaders as soon as possible in order to follow them and to study their lines because that is the best way to improve, even if I am convinced that we are already in a strong position for Yamaha's home race tomorrow."

Bradley Smith - Position : 10th Time :1'45.044

"On one hand it’s positive to be just half a second from the pole position, yet to be 10th is a little disappointing but it shows how close things have been today. I am very happy with the work we undertook as we focused on race simulation to make the bike as consistent as possible for tomorrow’s race. Furthermore, we continuously improved the lap time with the end result being much better than yesterday and I am very pleased to have been able to do a 45.0. The performance of the bike was good and the team did a great job, it’s just a shame that 10th is the final outcome despite our strong showing, but that is MotoGP. Now we will check the data and see exactly where I can improve tomorrow and I am confident in saying that we will be much higher than tenth, so I aim to get a great start and then see how well I can do. It will be a tough race at this demanding race track, but I must be as smooth as possible and make no mistakes in the first five laps, especially in the hard braking areas. I know what the Yamaha is capable of here and I have a clear plan of action so I am ready for the fight."

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