The CFMOTO Azul Marino Aspar rider remains one of the strongest riders in the intermediate class and finished in third place. Holgado will also compete in Q2 tomorrow after finishing twelfth
CFMOTO Azul Marino Aspar has achieved its first objective of the weekend: both its riders will take part in Q2 at the German Grand Prix. David Alonso once again finished the day among the fastest, in third place, just two tenths of a second off the fastest rider in the intermediate class. Izan Guevara set the pace on Friday, whilst Iván Ortolá, in second, came very close to overtaking him. Dani Holgado set the twelfth-fastest time, missing out on the top 10 by just one tenth of a second.
The riders in the intermediate category contested the weekend’s first sessions at one of the most demanding circuits of the season. The Sachsenring circuit will put tyre management to the test in every session, but particularly in Sunday’s race. David Alonso and Dani Holgado had already worked on this aspect during this morning’s free practice, in which both finished among the ten fastest riders in the category. The afternoon session once again made it clear that every detail counts when it comes to shaving seconds off the clock and achieving a perfect lap. Aware of this, the CFMOTO Azul Marino Aspar riders quickly improved their times, particularly the Colombian, who set his best time of the day on his second lap. Thanks to his 1:22.475, Alonso secured third place in the standings. Holgado struggled somewhat to find the right feel on the bike, but if there is one thing that characterises the Spanish rider, it is his consistency in every session in striving for the best possible performance. Following a slight improvement in his times, the 1:22.937 he clocked in the final laps placed him in twelfth position and also secured his direct passage to Q2.
3rd David Alonso 1:22.475 (+0.215): “Sachsenring is a really fun circuit, with nothing but left-hand corners, but that also means the tyres wear out a lot. Your riding style and set-up change significantly depending on whether the tyre is new or used. This afternoon I managed to take that step forward I’d been missing, and I’m really pleased about that. Tomorrow we’ll only have one lap on fresh tyres, two at most, so we’ll have to stay focused to get a clean lap and make the most of it. Tyre wear at the Sachsenring is enormous; on the third lap you can go fast but you can’t improve your time any further, and from the fourth lap onwards the feel changes dramatically. It’s difficult to prepare for the race, but we’re working on it. We’re all going to struggle on Sunday, especially in the latter stages of the race, but we’ll try to make it as bearable as possible.”
12th Dani Holgado 1:22.937 (+0.677): “Today has been a day of hard work here in Germany. I tried to improve, especially in the second session, but I didn’t quite feel comfortable. I did manage quite well on the used tyre and had a good pace, but I didn’t quite put together a good lap. I think we have room for improvement in this area, so tomorrow morning we’ll also focus on improving that. I’ll try to get the most out of the tyre to qualify well. It’s particularly important here because it’s a very small circuit, and also because from this weekend onwards the grid is different – we’ll be further apart from one another. We need to keep preparing for the race, which is when the points are up for grabs. We’ve got work ahead of us, but that means we can still keep improving further.”
