Alonso López (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0) in Moto3™, Eric Granado (Promoracing) in Moto2™, Francisco Gómez (Team Larresport) in the European Talent Cup and Joan Sardanyons in the European Kawasaki Z Cup took the last poles of the FIM CEV Repsol season at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. On Sunday the new Moto2™ European Championship and European Talent Cup titles will be decided.
In Moto3™, Alonso López (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0) was the quickest but will head only one of the grids of the two final races, in which the championship runner-up will be decided: five riders are in with a chance, and just seven points separate them. In the first race, it will be Jaume Masía (Cuna de Campeones) who starts from pole position after the 12-position penalty imposed on Alonso López (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0). Along with López five other riders were sanctioned for riding slowly in more than five sectors of the circuit.
Alonso López will occupy the pole position in the second race. Joining the Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 rider will be Jaume Masía (Cuna de Campeones) and the Moto3™ JWC champion Dennis Foggia (Junior Team VR46 Riders Academy). Jeremy Alcoba (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0), second overall but with just one point advantage over Vicente Pérez (Reale Avintia Academy) and four over Alonso López (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0), will head the second row of the grid after a qualifying session in which the 57 registered riders had to be divided into two groups.
Marc García (Max Racing T) and Sasha de Vits (Kiefer Racing) will close out the grid after being first and second respectively in the Moto3™ "Last Chance", a nine-lap race in which the 10 riders who failed to qualify for the races on Sunday were allowed to take part. The prize for the first two classified was access to the grid of the final two races of the season.
For several riders it will be their last race in the FIM CEV Repsol: next season Alonso López (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0.0), Jaume Masía (Cuna de Campeones), Makar Yurchenko (Reale Avintia Academy) and Dennis Foggia (Junior Team VR46 Riders Academy) will be moving on to the World Championship.
Moto2™ leader Eric Granado (Promoracing) took his second pole of the season at a circuit where he has won his last four races in the Moto2 ™ European Championship. The Promoracing rider is 16 points ahead of Ricky Cardús (Team Stylobike), who will start third behind Héctor Garzó (Team Wimu CNS), and is the firm candidate to be crowned in Valencia, not only because of his points advantage over Ricky Cardús (Team Stylobike) but also because the Team Stylobike rider is hampered by a shoulder injury which was worsened after his fall in the World Championship race last Sunday where he replaced Thomas Luthi.
Joe Roberts (AGR Team), Steven Odendaal (NTS Sportscode T. Pro) and Lukas Tulovic (Forward Junior Team) will start from the second row. The first two riders, along with Eric Granado (Promoracing) and Federico Fuligni (Forward Junior Team), will be competing next season in the Moto2™ World Championship. Daniel Saez (Champi-JJ Saez) was the fastest in SSTK 600 in the Moto2™ category.
In the European Talent Cup, Manuel González (Halcourier Racing) and Meikon Kawakami (Playstation Laglisse Academy) will replay the duel between Marc Márquez and Andrea Dovizioso a week ago in the fight for the title. The Halcourier Racing rider has a 20-point lead over his Playstation Laglisse Academy rival, who will start second behind poleman Francisco Gómez (Team Larresport) in a first row completed by Andreas Pérez (Reale Avintia Academy). Andreas Pérez will double up and also take part in the Moto3™ race. Manuel González is clearly favourite to take the title even though he will start on Sunday from the third row of the grid.
Joan Sardanyons took pole in the European Kawasaki Z Cup, though the title has already been decided: Raul Martínez (Motorbike Moya Competition) is this season's champion.
Sunday?s race schedule is as follows:
Moto3™ Race 1 (18 laps): 11.00
Moto2™ (19 laps): 12.00
European Talent Cup Race 1 (17 laps): 13.00
Moto3™ Race 2 (18 laps): 14.00
European Kawasaki Z Cup (19 laps): 15.00
As usual, entrance to the paddock will be free all weekend. In addition, FIM CEV Repsol fans who go to the main access of the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo paddock on Sunday morning can take part in the Pit Lane Walk. Only the first arrivals will get a pass for the Pit Lane Walk with a maximum of two passes per person. The Pit Lane Walk will take place at 10.15 am and start from outside the control tower.
In Spain, races will be broadcast live on the Movistar MotoGP channel, which will show all of the scheduled races in the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, the Moto2™ European Championship and the European Talent Cup categories. In Italy, Sky will broadcast live the Moto3™ Junior World Championship races and the Moto2™ European Championship race. Sport TV Portugal will show live all the races.
BT Sports (UK) and Eurosport, via Eurosportplayer (France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Romania) will also offer coverage of the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, the Moto2™ European Championship and the European Talent Cup with a live broadcast of each of the races.
In the United States through its digital medium, Motor Trend OnDemand will air races in all of the categories; while in Brazil Moto2™ European Championship fans will be able to watch the recorded races on Band Sports.
Covering much of Latin America and North America as well as France, Motorsport.com will offer live broadcasts on demand of each of the races of the three main categories, while its partner MotorSportTV will offer recorded coverage in these areas via TV.
In addition, all of the races will be aired live via the Championship's Youtube channel.
Poles for López, Granado and Gómez in Valencia finale
The final Qualifying session of the season in FIM CEV Repsol yielded some interesting results