Competition at the front of the 2019 MotoGP™ eSport Championship couldn’t be tighter after an incident packed qualifying session for the third race of the Global Series, with just 0.056s separating the series’ fastest names.
The 12 Global Series finalists took on the demanding Sepang International Circuit in Thursday evening’s first qualifying session, with the Malaysian venue proving particularly difficult for a number of the series’ leading names. Seven crashes and just 0.132 covering the top three riders meant it was an all-action session.
If qualifying is anything to go by, the first of Friday’s two races will be an all action fight between Ducati Team’s AndrewZh and Team Suzuki ECSTAR’s Cristianmm17, the two leading championship contenders, with the Ducati man getting the edge with his final lap of the 15-minute session. That Cristianmm17 leads the championship, 12 points ahead of AndrewZh, adds to the excitement ahead of for tomorrow’s action.
Big things were expected of adrianDP26, brother of Cristianmm17 and Team Suzuki ECSTAR team-mate, coming into the Global Series after strong showings in the previous stage of the competition. Here adrianDP26 showed more of that form by setting the third fastest time.
It’ won’t just be a three-horse race, however. Challenges will surely arrive from round one revelation Juan_nh16, riding for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, who was fourth fastest. Reigning eSport Champion trastevere73 shrugged off a fast crash at turn six to set the fifth quickest time on his Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP. And Wimp showed real speed aboard the Red Bull KTM Tech 3 in sixth place.
Remember to tune into the live show tomorrow (Friday 20th) at 19:30 CET, when an all-star presenting line-up of Gavin Emmett and Amy Dargan will host the event with commentary coming from Matt Dunn and Jack Appleyard. Friday’s action will be available to watch live on www.motogp.com and esport.motogp.com, a host of social media channels and ten television channels.
Qualifying Results:
1st AndrewZh: 1:54.471
2nd Cristianmm17: 1:54.527 (+0.056)
3rd adrianDP26: 1:54.604 (+0.132)
4th Juan_nh16: 1:54.735 (+0.264)
5th trastevere73: 1:54.801 (+0.330)
6th Wimp: 1:55.002 (+0.531)
7th MOE: 1:55.238 (+0.767)
8th EleGhosT555: 1:55.272 (+0.801)
9th Rllorca: 1:55.327 (+0.855)
10th MrTftw: 1:55.793 (+1.322)
11th Mereja: 1:55.974 (+1.502)
12th XxBoMbeR_45xX: 1:56.638 (+2.166)
