Scotland’s Rory Skinner shook up the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup form book today, grabbing his debut pole position at the Motorland Aragon round.
Fourth fastest in free practice two, Skinner seized pole by 0.257 seconds and has Rookies Cup champ Bo Bendsneyder alongside him on the front row which is completed by 14-year-old Spaniard Raúl Fernández.
“That feels great,” beamed Skinner who had impressed everyone with his superb Race 2 4th in slippery wet conditions at Silverstone. “The whole day has been perfect, I've got great feeling for the bike and I love the track. After Silverstone Misano was pretty disappointing because the bike settings didn't suit my riding style, here we went a lot softer, more like we had at Silverstone and I am a lot more confident with the bike.”
“My dad gave me the P1 on the board but I kept going,” enthused Skinner. “You never know when someone is going to put in a quicker lap.” In fact Bendsneyder only got as close as he did on his final circuit.
“That wasn't easy,” grinned 16-year-old Bendsneyder. “The bike was good but there were a lot of riders around, all waiting and looking to follow. I really need a tow to put in a special lap and I only found that at the end, chasing Raúl.”
“I'm glad I could do it, I kept seeing on the board, P6, P7; I thought, 'I'm the champ, I can't start from the second or third row!'... It's great though, it's the last two races of the year and it's fantastic that all the guys are going so fast and I think we are going to have some great fun this weekend.”
