Lack of grip makes for difficult qualifying in Texas for Scott

Saturday proved a demanding day at the COTA for Scott Redding. The Aprilia rider and his teammate, who had done two good practice sessions on Friday, found completely different grip conditions ahead of Qualifying. The lack of feeling conditioned preparation for the qualifiers, forcing both to go through the Q1 selection session.

The poor grip make the day difficult for Scott. After a good start in FP3, and with the goal of doing a time attack in the later portion of the session to try for a top 10 spot that would have meant going straight through to Q2, the British rider’s plans were spoiled by the arrival of a light rain shower.

Subsequently, in FP4 and in the first qualifying session, Scott was unable to find the same feeling, finishing with the twenty-second best time for a spot on the eighth row.

SCOTT REDDING
“In FP3 I felt very much at ease. I had managed to improve with the medium tyre, but just as I was ready to put on the soft tyre, confident that I would be able to do a good time, it began to rain. In FP4, after the rain, I struggled because of the lack of grip, both on the front and on the rear, and it was the same in Q1, where our performance was below our expectations. Aleix also struggled in qualifying, I think because of the same problems, so now we will need to analyse the data well in view of the race tomorrow.”