---
title: "Barbera narrowly misses QP2"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/11/12/barbera-narrowly-misses-qp2/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2016-11-12T17:22:41Z"
modified: "2016-11-12T17:23:06Z"
---

# Barbera narrowly misses QP2

Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera will start from 13th on the grid in tomorrow’s 30-lap Grand Prix of Valencia after narrowly missing a place in QP2.

The Spanish rider has been anticipating this weekend’s season final in Valencia for some time, and came into the weekend with the intention of putting on a strong showing for his many home fans.

Barbera had hoped to make it into the second part of qualifying for the 12th time this season, though unfortunately missed the cut by the tiniest of margins. The Spaniard put in some mightily impressive laps in QP1, an opening gambit of 1m31.425s putting him top of the pile.

With fresh rubber fitted for his second run, Barbera pulled out a storming 1m30.894s, but ultimately it wasn’t enough and he missed out on second in the session by just eight hundredths. However, the Spaniard was still pleased with his effort as it was his fastest ever lap of the Ricardo Tormo Circuit.

Barbera heads into the final race of the season with one goal in mind: to finish inside the top 10 of the world championship standings. Currently, he lies ninth on 97 points, which is just one ahead of factory Ducati’s Andrea Iannone and 12 ahead of Aleix Espargaro on the Suzuki in 11th.

It won’t be an easy task for the Spaniard. Iannone will launch from seventh on the grid, whilst Espargaro starts ninth. But Barbera is happy with the progress made by his team over the weekend with his GP14.2, and this has left him brimming with confidence going into tomorrow.

“I’m happy, because we did our best and this is the maximum you can get with this bike. I did not get into Q2, but we did a great job during FP4 and this was very positive. I clocked a best time of 1’30.8, which is my fastest lap ever on this track,” said Barbera.

“We handed Q2 by just a few thousands to Petrucci and we were just three tenths behind Crutchlow. The team worked very well and we have a good set up for the race. We will refine it a little bit during the warm-up, but today I had a lot of confidence to push the bike. Tomorrow my goal will be finishing the championship in the top ten, and we’ll give our best to make this possible.”