AustrianGP fifth row start for Dixon

Moto2 race at Spielberg will start with Jake Dixon 13th and Xavi Vierge 20th

Despite temperatures rising in the afternoon at the Spielberg circuit, Jake Dixon ended Qualifying 13th to secure a fifth row start for the AustrianGP whilst PETRONAS Sprinta Racing team-mate Xavi Vierge will line up 20th on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Dixon improved his time at the beginning of FP3 and it wasn’t until the final moments that he slipped outside of the top-14. Ending the session with a 1min 29.043secs lap, Jake was 18th and 0.168secs shy of a Q2 place. The Brit made short work of Q1, posting the second fastest time – 1min 29.182secs – to go through to Q2. With track temperatures reaching over 40C and starting to affect the times, Dixon started the session with a 1min 29.359secs lap. He ended the session 13th and claimed a place on the fifth row of the grid.

Bettering his Friday time immediately, Vierge spent the majority of FP3 inside of the top-14. The Spaniard missed out on a Q2 place by only 0.052secs, after finishing FP3 with the 16th fastest time – 1min 28.927secs. Xavi had a strong start to Q1, sitting inside the top-four places for the opening minutes. Once again the finest of margins separated riders and Vierge’s 1min 29.393secs lap placed him sixth – only 0.028secs shy of a Q2 place – and will see him start the AustrianGP from 20th.

Dixon and Vierge will be on track tomorrow at 9.10am local time (3.10pm MYT) for Warm Up, ahead of the 25-lap Moto2 race that is at 12.20pm local time (6.20pm MYT).

“Throughout the weekend we’ve been chipping away, not making drastic changes but trying some things with the electronics and I think we’ve made good steps in that department. Overall I’m not completely happy with my lap, as I made a couple of mistakes, but that was my fault. I think without them the bike would have put me inside the top-ten. It is what it is and I feel a lot stronger with my race pace, than I do over one lap. I think tomorrow the temperature will be a little bit cooler and I feel like we could have a good fight in the race. You can never tell how the race will unfold, but with my pace I should be able to make progress forwards. I’m going to try to get a good first few laps, hopefully settle into the front group and pull away with them.” – Jake Dixon, 13th (1’29.359)

“We made improvements in FP3 and I had a really good rhythm. I just missed out on going into Q2 by a really small amount, but I was happy with how FP3 had gone. In Q1 I expected more and I did my best, but again we missed out on going through to Q2 by practically nothing. Now we are working hard to try to find something for tomorrow to make a good comeback. Last year we also had a bad Qualifying and started from a similar position, but we had a really good race. We know we have the pace and I will try to keep this consistent across the laps to make my way back inside the top-ten tomorrow.” – Xavi Vierge, 20th (1’29.393)