· Diogo Moreira (Kalex) is the first poleman in history for the Moto2 category at Balaton Park, the circuit that hosts the first ever Grand Prix of Hungary. The Brazilian, who was also the fastest rider in Friday afternoon’s Practice, took pole with a time of 1’40.380, setting also the intermediate class all-time lap record. Tomorrow he will start front row, alongside Italtrans Racing Team rider, Zonta VD Goorbergh, second, and Manuel Gonzalez, third. All riders used soft SC1 compound tyres at the front and the soft E0125 development at the rear.
· After being the fastest in both Practice and FP2, Máximo Quiles (KTM) took pole for the Moto3 race with 1’46.060 set on the fifth out of seven total laps completed. In FP2, the Spanish rider also set the all-time lap record for the Moto3 category in 1’45.812. In both cases, Quiles used medium SC2 compound tyres at the front and soft SC1 at the rear. Valentin Perrone and Ángel Piqueras, also on KTM, complete the front row.
· Cool temperatures. Despite the summer period, in the first two days air temperatures were rather mild, between 17 and 26°C. Similarly, asphalt temperatures never exceeded 40°C in the afternoon sessions, and Moto3 FP1 was the coldest with 24°C on the track.
Pirelli soft tyres best suited to the new Hungarian circuit
“Balaton Park is hosting the World Championship for the very first time, so teams and riders have no references from the past. As Pirelli, we collected interesting data from the World Superbike round, which raced here a month ago, and we based ourselves on it to choose the best allocation for this GP. In terms of asphalt and layout, we were able to determine that the circuit is not especially demanding on the tyres, and we were thus able to take advantage of the extra grip offered by the softer solutions. That’s why in Moto2, in addition to the standard SC0, there is also the soft E0125 development at the rear, which has already been successfully employed in several GPs this year, and has also been the race reference for Superbike riders. Both yesterday and today, in the first Moto3 morning sessions, there was a lot of sand on the track, coming from the surrounding areas and carried by the wind, which negatively affected wear but, as the trajectory cleared in the afternoon sessions, the wear returned to standard levels. In Moto2 the E0125 continues to be favoured over the SC0 for the greater grip it offers and, after a quick comparison in yesterday’s FP1, this was the only option used in the following sessions in combination with the soft SC1 front, and these will certainly also be the choices for tomorrow’s race. Even in Moto3, the soft SC1 rear is favoured over the medium SC2, while at the front, the soft SC1 continues to be preferred by Honda riders and the medium SC2 by KTM riders, especially because of the chassis characteristics of each bike”.
