Folger and Zarco ready for Argentina GP fight after powering through the rain in qualifying today

The Monster Yamaha Tech3 pair fought against the tricky conditions this afternoon to clinch two solid grid positions for the main event tomorrow. Jonas Folger progressed straight through to Q2 due to his 8^th place finish in the combined rankings, and he leapt into action when the qualifying commenced. Ultimately, the young German qualified as the top rookie and he will kick off the sprint from 11^th on the grid. Whilst Johann Zarco will launch forward from one row behind his teammate. His personal best from FP2 left him 13^th in the overall standings, which put him into the Q1 shootout. Here, he dug deep before posting his quickest lap in the final moments of the super competitive session. The Motul sponsored Argentina Grand Prix will begin at 16:00 local time or 21:00 in central Europe.

Jonas FOLGER
Position: 11^th - Time: 1'49.825 - Laps: 7

"It was a tricky situation today but I did my best and now I am looking forward to the fight tomorrow. In FP4 the conditions were fully wet, yet, the front suspension on my bike was a bit too hard, so we softened it for qualifying. However, then the asphalt started to dry in QP2 and we didn’t have time to change the settings back. In the end, we fitted a new tyre, which put more load on the front, but I was still a bit limited. Nevertheless, I think that we are in a decent position to fight for some good points tomorrow. We made progress from yesterday regarding how the Yamaha handles the bumps at this track so we will see how the pace is on the race bike in warm up, but I am feeling positive and I’m sure we can do a solid job."

Johann ZARCO
Postion: 14^th - Time: 1'49.916 - Laps: 8

"For the Argentina Grand Prix I will start from the fifth row of the grid but I am confident and we expect to have a good race tomorrow. Unfortunately, I was not able to get into the top ten in FP2 and then it was not possible to lower the lap time in practice this morning due to the rain. Having said that, the work that we have completed is satisfying and my confidence with the bike is always increasing. I feel good on the track here, and I can control the YZR-M1 well, but I wasn’t in the top ten yesterday afternoon because we didn’t play enough with the tyres and do a quick lap at the right moment. I was a bit unlucky and it’s a shame to not be a bit further up the grid, but I will learn from this. Still, I feel comfortable on my Yamaha and the overall feeling is very positive so let's see what we can do."