Buchanan, Cano, Casadei and Iozzo earn their first pole positions during a weather affected qualifying afternoon in Portugal
Rain and fog may have caused some unwanted delays on qualifying day in Estoril but once the action resumed, it didn’t disappoint. Cormac Buchanan (AGR Team) claimed a debut FIM JuniorGP™ World Championship pole, with Carlos Cano (SeventyTwo ARTBOX Racing Team) boasting the same in the European Talent Cup. Mattia Casadei (Fantic Cardoso Racing) bagged a first Saturday P1 in the Moto2™ European Championship too while Dino Iozzo (IUM Motorsports) will launch from pole in the Stock class.
FIM JuniorGP
15 minutes in the wet weather provided an intriguing Q2 in Estoril as Buchanan went on to bag pole by a substantial 0.5s, with Casey James O’Gorman (Team Estrella Galicia 0,0) earning a P2 to hand himself a first front row start in the class. Completing the front row will be Championship leader Jesus Rios (MRE Talent), the rookie 0.7s shy from pole as he aims to leave Estoril still sitting top of the title chase tree.
Facundo Llambias (Team Estrella Galicia 0,0) spearheads Row 2 in P4 as the Uruguayan acts as another rider to pocket a personal best qualifying result. The same can be said for fifth place Danial Sharil (Asia Talent Team). P5 is the Malaysian’s best Saturday score so far, as Marcos Uriarte (CFMOTO Aspar Junior Team) rounds out the top six – that’s the Spaniard’s equal best qualifying.
Moto2 European Championship
Casadei proved to be unstoppable in Moto2™ ECh Q2 as the Italian stormed to a debut pole in the class by a whopping 1.7s. Taiga Hada (GAS UP Racing Team) was the only rider to get within three seconds – yes, three! – of the number 40, with Hada in turn 1.6s clear of third place Eduardo Montero (PS Racing). The latter duo line up on the front row for the first time in the class after an impressive qualifying, while Championship leader Alberto Surra (Team Ciatti – Boscoscuro) – after an early crash – will have to climb his way through the pack from P17 on the grid.
European Talent Cup
Cano’s 2:03.135 was in a different league to anyone else’s lap time as the Spaniard dominated his qualifying group to earn his first pole position. Frando Racing VHC Team’s Valentin Perrone will launch from the middle of the front row in P2 after topping Group A qualifying, with third on the grid going the way of Vasileios Panteleakis (AC Racing Team) – the Greek rider securing his first front row start in ETC.
Stock European Championship
A slender 0.070s split Iozzo and Iker Garcia (Yamaha GV Racing) at the end of Stock Q2 as three different nationalities line up on the front row for Sunday’s race. Italy’s Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Yamaha GV Racing) claimed P3 and was only 0.161s away from pole position in a closely fought wet session in Estoril, can the Championship leader claim another win on Sunday?
So that’s qualifying day done at the Circuito do Estoril. The race schedule for Sunday can be seen below as six more races await – tune in!
Sunday 5th May (UTC +1):
11:00 – ETC Race 1
12:00 – Moto2™ ECh Race 1
13:00 – JuniorGP™ Race
14:00 – ETC Race 2
15:00 – Moto2™ ECh Race 2
16:00 – Stock Race
For more info checkout our dedicated FIM JuniorGP™ news page superbike-news.co.uk/cev-repsol/
You can also find all the results, videos, photos and information regarding the championship on the official website: www.fimjuniorgp.com/en
