Mike Di Meglio - Photo Credit: Tech 3
Mike Di Meglio hopes to be challenging the leaders during tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix after his best ever qualifying result in Moto2. The Frenchman has endured a miserable season on the Tech 3 Mistral 610 with a best finish of ninth in Portugal but thrived in damp conditions at the end of qualifying today.
Rain fell midway through the session before relenting shortly before the end, leading to mad dash as all 39 riders sensed an opportunity to seal a lofty grid position. In the end, Di Meglio was pipped by pole by Alex de Angelis by 0.088s but ended the session happy after such a turbulent time lately.
“I am really happy to be on the front row because it has been a very difficult season. But together with my team we have never stopped giving our maximum effort to improve and today is a big reward for all that hard work. We managed to improve the bike from this morning and in the end it all worked out well because it was a very difficult session and made complicated by the rain. I was much faster immediately in qualifying but then the rain came and it was frustrating having to sit in the pits because the track wasn’t wet enough for rain tyres. But it was too risky to go out on slicks. We managed to get out for one last exit at the end and I had a good feeling with the bike, even though the track was a little damp and the wind was blowing very hard. That made riding very difficult but I pushed at my maximum and almost grabbed pole position. Second is still a fantastic result and I hope to be fighting at the front in the race tomorrow.”
