The second round of the FIM CEV Repsol which takes place this weekend at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo promises a great deal. Aleix Viu (Marinelli Sniper) in Moto3™ and Jesko Raffin (Swiss Innovative Investors Junior) in Moto2™ will start from pole positions after setting the best times in the qualifying sessions of their respective categories. With Aleix Viu taking his first ever pole in the FIM CEV Repsol, Jesko Raffin set the fastest lap in a qualifying session for the first time this season.
In Moto3™, Aleix Viu, Can Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Celestino Vietti (SKY Junior Team VR46 Riders Academy) make up the first row of the grid with the best time of 1:39.410 set by the Marinelli Sniper team rider. Viu, along with Öncü and Vietti, were the only ones to go below 1:40, although the SKY Junior Team VR46 Academy rider finished just 0.571 adrift of the poleman in a very tight qualifying session: the difference between the first and the seventeenth rider classified is less than one second.
In fact, Aleix Viu and Can Öncü, who finished within 0.064 of the quickest time, were just a few thousandths away from improving on the pole time obtained last year by Jaume Masiá’s 1:39.315 in the second round of the FIM CEV Repsol in Valencia , although they did beat Vicente Pérez?s (Reale Avintia Academy) lap of 1:40.115 that put him at the front of the grid in the first event of the Moto3™ Junior World Championship at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit last year.
In the second row of tomorrow’s Moto3™ grid will be current leader of the category Manuel Pagliani (Leopard Junior), Sergio García (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0) and Marc García (Max Racing Team). Further back will be Jeremy Alcoba (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0), seventh, and Ai Ogura (Asia Talent Team), eleventh, two riders who are appearing as Moto3™ guest riders in the next Red Bull Grand Prix of Spain in Jerez.
Jesko Raffin, currently heading Moto2™, will start in pole position after posting the best time in the first qualifying session, the second being interrupted by a brief storm which left riders with no hope of improving on times set earlier in the morning. Edgar Pons (AGR Team) and Lukas Tulovic (Team Wimu CNS) complete the front row of the grid, while Augusto Fernández (Easyrace), poleman in the first round at Estoril, Héctor Garzó (Team Wimu CNS) and Xavier Cardelús (Team Stylobike) will start behind them. David Sanchís (Easyrace M2) was the fastest in Superstock 600.
Sunday’s race schedule:
Moto3™ Race 1 (18 laps): 11.00
Moto2™ (19 laps): 13.00
Moto3™ Race 2 (18 laps): 14.00