Brno, Czech Republic – 16 August 2014: Tito Rabat will start from pole position for the seventh time this season in tomorrow’s Moto2 Grand Prix of the Czech Republic, after setting a new outright circuit record in qualifying this afternoon.

Mika Kallio will start tomorrow from the sixth position on the second row of the grid, after walking away uninjured from a crash in the final minute of qualifying.

Rabat has been the rider on form this weekend, topping the timesheet in two of the three free practice sessions here in Brno. The 25-year-old Spaniard goes into tomorrow’s race determined to reassert his authority on the championship that he has led since the opening round in Qatar.

Fast in the final free practice session this morning, Kallio was caught out by a change in track conditions this afternoon, with more grip inducing front end chatter. Changes to the balance of the bike brought improvements, but the 31-year-old Finn crashed out of qualifying uninjured when on a lap that would have put him on the front row.

After improving significantly to finish this morning’s final Moto3 free practice session in eighth position, Jorge Navarro was disappointed to qualifying only 19th for tomorrow’s 19-lap Moto3 race at Brno. However, the 18-year-old Spaniard remains confident of a good result.

Tito Rabat // Pole Position // 2’01.911
“I’m happy with pole and also the circuit record, because we’ve worked hard as a team for this over the weekend. The last three races haven’t worked out how I was expecting, so I need to bounce back here in Brno and rediscover my early season form once again. We still have some work to do here, but what is important is the race tomorrow. We need to see what the weather does, but the aim is to get a good start, fight with the other riders and come away from here with a good result tomorrow afternoon.”

Mika Kallio // 6th // 2’02.517
“It wasn’t so easy to improve the lap time in qualifying. From the first lap I could feel that the conditions had changed since the morning, with a lot of chatter from the front because there was more grip available. We made changes to the bike that brought some improvement, but they also caused the crash at the end of the session. I was pushing hard for the front row when the front bottomed out with no warning and down I went. We need to sort this out for tomorrow, because the problem will be worse with full fuel load at the start of the race. I believe we don’t need to be too worried for the race, but ideally we need to find a something so I can be a little bit more relaxed on the bike at race pace. We also need to decide which tyre to use; not easy, as both options have their advantages and disadvantages.”

Jorge Navarro // 19th // 2’09.004
“I’m not happy after today’s qualifying, especially after this morning’s final free practice session where the changes we made to the bike increased both my confidence and my pace. The start of qualifying was good and I was running in 11th position, but then it started raining and a lot of riders were slowing on track, which meant I couldn’t make one good lap, while other riders obviously did. Finally I ended 19th, but my feeling with the bike is good and tomorrow I think I can do a good race.”