Indonesian less than a tenth away from pole, top 20 qualifying results for Noguchi and Cook
On a scorching Saturday at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto, Mario Aji secured his best qualifying position of the season in third place, just 0.079 seconds adrift of pole position. In a grid that is tightly packed in terms of times, Haruki Noguchi is the next best placed Junior Talent Team rider in P19. The Japanese rider set a best time of 1:47.312 to sit eight tenths off P1.
Lining up one position behind Noguchi in P20 is teammate Max Cook. The British star was just 0.005 behind his fellow Junior Talent Team rider on the combined FIM CEV Repsol Moto3™ Junior World Championship qualifying and you don’t have to venture too far back to find Bill Van Eerde. The Australian finished less than a tenth behind both Noguchi and Cook in qualifying as he prepares to launch from P22, fresh off the back of claiming his first Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup win at MotorLand Aragon.
Meanwhile, on his first Junior Talent Team outing, Scott Ogden impressed to claim a P24 starting slot of Sunday’s two races. The 2019 British Talent Cup Champion is stepping in to replace the injured Yuki Kunii, and it didn’t take long for Ogden to adapt to the Honda as he finished under a second away from pole in Jerez.
Noguchi, Cook, Van Eerde and Ogden will all be aiming to challenge for the points on Sunday as the Junior Talent Team riders get set for two races in Jerez, while Aji has his sights set on a podium attack in Andalusia. Race 1 will take place at 11:00 local time (GMT+2), with Race 2 kicking off at 14:00.
