Another day wraps up in India! Saturday has been a day of very contrasting results inside our box. Le0pard Racing will start tomorrow’s race from the first spot on the grid with Jaume Masià, who took a stunning wet pole position, and from the 27th place with Tatsuki Suzuki. Let’s take a look at what happened today:
- Saturday at the Buddh International Circuit kicked off with the same conditions as yesterday, heat and humidity.
- Everything was fine-tuned for Practice 3 to start, with Le0pard riders Jaume Masià and Tatsuki Suzuki eager to go on track to keep discovering the keys of the Indian layout.
- Both Jaume Masià and Tatsuki Suzuki had a great start to the session, with both of them pushing hard from the early stages of it, but neither of them could improve his best time from Friday.
- Jaume Masià set a 1’59.759 as his best time of the morning, trying to lower it on his last run. At the end, it wasn’t possible for the Spaniard to do so, finishing in 6th position both in Practice 3 and on the combined, going directly into Q2 with his 1’59.752 from yesterday.
- For his part, Tatsuki Suzuki started to struggle as the clock ticked down, suffering a crash with no major consequences and being unable to set a valid lap in Practice 3. The Japanese finished in 21st place on the combined with the 2’00.804 he set yesterday, having to go through Q1.
- The afternoon arrived as the clouds approached.
- Q1 went underway still under dry conditions, with Tatsuki Suzuki trying to push hard to get into Q2, but things turned the other way around. The Japanese was unable to set a time during qualifying today, which means he will start from the back of the grid tomorrow, on the ninth row in 27th position.
- By the time Q2 was about to start, the heavy rain made its appearance, with the session being delayed due to the weather conditions.
- Once the rain stopped and it was finally time to get out on track, Jaume Masià, determined to storm the timesheets even in wet conditions, gave his best to put in a great and strong qualifying. He topped the session from its very beginning and, from then on, the Spaniard kept improving his time lap by lap to claim a stunning first-ever Indian pole position, his fourth of the season, with a time of 2’09.336.
- We can’t wait to race!
Target achieved! Before I went out on track for qualifying, I was convinced that, whatever the conditions, I had the potencial to set a great lap time today. The feeling with the bike is great, I feel strong, and the confidence is key. I wanted to take pole today because starting from the front of the grid always makes a difference in the first laps. I’m looking forward to our first race in India!
I want to apologise to the team for today. Yesterday we struggled to get used to this new track, and today it hasn’t been any different. I wasn’t able to put in a valid lap, so we will start tomorrow’s race from the back of the grid. I know it would be difficult to achieve a good result, but I will try to give my best tomorrow anyway
