FIM MotoGP World Championship
TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands
June 25, 2015
Free Practice Two Results (all on Bridgestone tires):
1. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:33.450
2. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (HONDA), 1:33.589
3. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:33.652
4. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (DUCATI), 1:33.699
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (HONDA), 1:33.734
6. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:33.741
7. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (DUCATI), 1:33.844
8. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:33.857
9. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:34.133
10. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:34.232
11. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:34.321
12. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (DUCATI), 1:34.406
13. Bradley SMITH, UK (YAMAHA), 1:34.627
14. Scott REDDING, UK (HONDA), 1:34.643
15. Stefan BRADL, Germany (FORWARD YAMAHA), 1:34.664
16. Loris BAZ, France (FORWARD YAMAHA), 1:34.897
17. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (HONDA), 1:35.047
18. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (HONDA), 1:35.149
19. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (APRILIA), 1:35.489
20. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:35.538
21. Jack MILLER, Australia (HONDA), 1:35.646
22. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (DUCATI), 1:35.663
23. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (ART-APRILIA), 1:36.869
24. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (APRILIA), 1:37.225
More, from a press release issued by Team Estrella Galicia:
Difficult opening day at Assen for Redding
Assen, The Netherlands – 25 June 2015: Scott Redding finished the opening day of practice at the Dutch TT in Assen 14th on the timesheet. The Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider was just over a second off the pace, with most of the time being lost on the opening half of the lap.
Those two sectors will become the focus of the team’s attention overnight with improvements needed if the 22-year-old Briton is to challenge for a spot in QP2 tomorrow. It has been a difficult campaign so far in 2015 but overall Redding once again felt that the bike was close to being as he needs it, with no major issues with regard to set up The only problem that he had in the session was a minor one with chatter in just two corners.
With rain threatening throughout the weekend it was a much more competitive opening day than usual, with all riders keen to set a fast time to finish inside the top ten. On his final stint of the day Redding was able to improve his times and move towards the top half of the timesheets, but further improvements will be needed tomorrow if he is to make it through to the QP2 shootout.
Scott Redding: 14th – 1’34.643
“I don’t really know why we weren’t higher up the order because my feeling with the bike is pretty good, but the lap time doesn’t reflect that. It feels like the lap time should be there but it’s not. We had a bit of chatter in a couple of corners but that’s not the issue. It doesn’t feel bad in many areas. I’m losing a lot in the first sector and I don’t know why, but at least we know where to look to find the time.”
Chris Pike: Chief Engineer
“Today was a tough day; tougher than we expected. We’re still trying to work with the set up that we came up with in Barcelona, to try and get the bike to fit Scott a little better, so we’re trying to find our way with that a little bit. We seem to be losing out a bit in sector one and also in sector two, which is quite a short sector, possibly as a result of our exit from turn five. We will focus on these two sectors overnight. As Scott says, at least we know where we need to look to find the time we’re missing at the moment.”
More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone:
Pedrosa sets new Assen lap record in Dutch Grand Prix Free Practice
Round 8: Dutch MotoGP™ – Free Practice 1&2
Assen, Thursday June 25 2015
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Extra-soft, Soft & Medium; Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative)
Weather: FP1 – Dry. Ambient 17-19°C; Track 21-26°C (Bridgestone measurement)
FP2 – Dry. Ambient 23-23°C; Track 39-42°C (Bridgestone measurement)
Dani Pedrosa set the quickest ever lap time at the Assen circuit in this afternoon’s Free Practice 2 session as the Repsol Honda Team finished 1-2 on combined times as they seek to break the recent dominance of their Yamaha rivals.
On his eighteenth lap of the session, Pedrosa set an incredible lap time of 1’34.450, beating the existing Circuit Best Lap record set by teammate Marc Marquez last year by twelve-thousandths of a second. Coincidentally, it was Marquez who was second quickest overall today with a best lap time that was 0.139 seconds off Pedrosa’s best, while Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi was third quickest with a best effort of 1’33.652. The quickest three riders today all set their personal best time using the combination of the soft front and medium compound rear slick tyres. It wasn’t just the top three riders who set an incredible pace on the opening day of the Dutch Grand Prix, the top twelve riders on the timesheets set times under the current Assen race lap record of 1’34.548.
Conditions for both sessions were fine with warm temperatures which allowed the twenty-four riders contesting this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix to get up to speed quickly. After track temperatures hovered around the mid-twenty degree mark during the morning FP1 session, persistent sunlight resulted in a peak reading during FP2 of 42°C. The favourable weather conditions enabled the use of many different slick tyre options today, including the hard compound rear slick that was evaluated by some factory Yamaha riders in the afternoon with positive results. The soft and medium rear slicks were also evaluated in today’s sessions, although the medium compound rear appears to be favoured by most riders. For the front tyre, although the extra-soft front slick was widely used during FP1 as the riders assessed the state of the track, every rider preferred the soft compound front slick as it matched good warm-up and cornering performance with good braking stability. Further evaluation on the different tyre combinations will take place tomorrow, although a slight chance of rain is forecast for tomorrow which could disrupt the riders’ plans to perform long runs on their preferred slick tyre combination.
The next MotoGP™ session is Free Practice 3 at 0955 local time (GMT +2) tomorrow, with the thirty-minute Free Practice 4 session starting at 1330 tomorrow afternoon shaping up to be a crucial session in which to finalise race tyre choice. Qualifying Practice 1 and 2 will commence at 1410 and 1435 local time, respectively.
Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
“We had good conditions throughout the day so the riders were able to set a very quick pace right from the opening laps. This circuit features a mix of slow and fast corners, so a balanced bike setup is important to get the best out of the tyres – thankfully we had a lot of dry track time today for the teams to work on this. All three rear slick options, and two of the three front slick options were utilised today and overall our tyre allocation is working well at this technical circuit. We had very few incidents today and the Assen lap record has already been beaten, so if the weather stays fine for the rest of the weekend I expect we will see some very quick times and a closely-packed field in qualifying and the race. However, if it does rain we are well prepared with our softest wet tyre option being the main choice available to riders at Assen this weekend.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Iannone fourth, Dovizioso seventh after first day of free practice for Assen TT
The two Ducati Team riders Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso ended the first day of free practice action for Saturday’s Assen TT round of the 2015 world championship in fourth and seventh place respectively.
In mild weather and on a dry track, the two Italians could only manage ninth (Dovizioso) and thirteenth (Iannone) in the morning’s FP1 run, but they both made a major improvement in the afternoon’s second session. Towards the end of the 45 minutes of FP2, both Andreas fitted soft rear tyres to move up the timesheets, and they ended up just a few tenths away from the provisional leader Dani Pedrosa.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’33.699 (4th)
“We are working to try and understand where we can improve our performance. Assen is a circuit where the GP15 goes quite well, but we are still suffering in some parts of the track and so are aiming to improve the overall performance of the bike in every session. In any case, I am quite satisfied with the improvements made between the morning and the afternoon: I like the modifications we made to the bike and we were able to improve, so this is an important indication for the work we will continue to do tomorrow.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’33.844 (7th)
“My feeling with the bike is quite good, but unfortunately this morning we lost a bit of time due to some small problems that prevented us from doing a lot of laps. This is a circuit where you struggle to get dialled in immediately, but despite this things are not going too badly. I still don’t have the feeling I’m looking for at the front and I am unable to be really effective in the middle of the corner, so we have to focus on these aspects if we want to improve. We don’t quite have the pace of the top three or four riders but tomorrow for sure we can make some further steps forward.”
More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:
1-2 for Pedrosa and Marquez as both riders lap under circuit record on day one in Assen
Fresh from his podium finish in Catalunya, Dani was immediately fast out of the box in this morning’s FP1 session – which he led for the majority – ending up third fastest with his time of 1’34.570 (lap 19/19). Dani did an exhaust comparison today and worked on various setups on his Honda RC213V machine, improving his time in the afternoon by over a second with his record breaking lap of 1’33.450 (lap 18/20), beating Casey Stoner’s record pole lap in 2012 of 1’33.713.
Despite a small crash on his out lap this morning (turn thirteen), Marc was able to press the reset button and continue his work as normal aboard the 2014 specification chassis – with updated 2015 swing arm and exhaust. This afternoon, Marc also improved significantly from FP1 (1’34.552 lap 17/20) with his time of 1’33.589 also under Casey’s time, finishing second behind teammate Dani.
Dani Pedrosa
1ST 1’33.450 [LAP18/20]
“We started well today. Above all, we wanted to take advantage of the track being dry and in good condition, because here in Assen the weather is always a little unpredictable and so it was important for trying out tyres and bike setups. We have made a good start comparing different exhausts and working on setup, so tomorrow we will aim to continue in the same way.”
Marc Marquez
2ND 1’33.589 [LAP 5/9]
“Today went fairly well and I’m happy because we had some more normal free practice sessions – riding with a good pace and used tyres – and I enjoyed myself on the bike. It’s clear that we still have to work hard and improve, but I’m happy with how things went. We expected Jorge and Valentino to be further ahead of us at this circuit, but this has not been the case. Dani was fastest and I was second which is good for the team. However, this is only practice and we must continue to progress, and I think that Valentino especially has a strong pace.”
More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:
Assertive Start to Assen Weekend for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo enjoyed a strong opening to the TT Assen weekend, securing third and sixth respectively in today‘s combined session times sheets.
Assen (The Netherlands), 25th June 2015
The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team kicked off the action at TT Circuit Assen today during the first free practice sessions ahead of Saturday‘s race. Valentino Rossi made most of the unexpected sunny conditions and landed third place in the combined session times, slightly ahead of teammate Jorge Lorenzo who posted the sixth fastest time.
Both riders love the prestigious Dutch circuit and were quick to find their pace while testing a new chassis in the first morning session.
Eager to the hit the ground running, Valentino Rossi began his Assen challenge with finding a solid basis set-up before closing the session with a time attack. His first attempt to a hot lap immediately moved him to the top spot in the ranking order. Knowing he had more in him, he continued to further improve his leading time over the next two laps and signed off FP1 with a 1‘34.357.
The afternoon saw more of the same from Rossi. He spent most of 45 minutes focusing on improving his setting before putting it to the test in the final stages of the session. Clearly feeling at home at one of his favorite tracks, he wrapped up the first day with a third fastest time of 1‘33.652, 0.202s from the front.
Jorge Lorenzo had a more challenging first outing, but still enjoyed his first laps at Assen. He slowly built up his pace in the FP1 and it wasn‘t long before he climbed up to the front of the leaderboard. He spent the rest of the session comparing settings and finished in fourth place, 0,415s behind his teammate.
The Spaniard was quick to pick up where he left off during FP2. He soon moved into the top three as he continued to perfect the set-up of his YZR-M1. With the temperature rising and the times dropping, he saved his best for his last stint and dropped a 1‘33.741 to end the day in sixth place, 0.291s from first.
VALENTINO ROSSI
It has been a good Thursday. I‘m happy because we worked well during the sessions and we found some interesting solutions. The first priority today was to find out which chassis we prefer, the new one or the standard one. I feel good with the new one. My pace and my lap times were especially good this morning when I was in front, but also in the afternoon. Securing third position is a very good performance, because the first five to seven riders are really close in times. It‘s a good way to start the weekend, but we still have a lot to do. It‘s very important to use this bit of dry track time in Assen well, because we hope the weather will stay like this, but you never know. Now we will wait for tomorrow. Both the harder and soft tyres are not so bad for the race, it will depend on the conditions. If it‘s hot, like it was today, you can decide to try the harder rear tyre.
JORGE LORENZO
It has been a difficult day. I still don‘t feel great on the bike, so we have to make some modifications to get more confortable. We don‘t have the softer edge tyre that Bridgestone usually brings. This certainly didn‘t help me to feel at my best in the corners, but this is the same for everyone. We have to work on it. I think we still have a margin to feel better with this tyre and go faster, but we have to find a solution to get to that stage.
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR
We started the practices collecting good information. Vale has been fast and consistent in both sessions, but there is still a margin for improvement. Jorge couldn‘t get the feeling he was looking for, but we still have enough time to make the setup suit him better. Both riders decided to ride with the new frame on both bikes, because our findings in Aragon have been reconfirmed here. We will work this evening to prepare some amendments to the setup for ‘free practice three’ and then we will focus on qualifying, which is going to be decisive for the race.
More, from a press release issued by Forward Racing:
Great start for Athinà Forward Racing at Assen
It was a positive first day of work for the Athinà Forward Racing team at the historic race track of Assen which this week hosts the eighth race of the 2015 season. Stefan Bradl and Loris Baz proved really consistent and finished today’s free practice on the top of the Open class standings.
After winning in Barcelona, Bradl is back today on his Yamaha Forward and he pulled off a positive 1.34.664, which earned him the leadership of the category and the fifteenth position overall. The German is confident for qualifying tomorrow and is target is to get the Open class pole.
Productive day also for Loris Baz who was eager to get back to work after the weekend on the Catalunya circuit. With an encouraging 1.34.897, the Frenchman ended a little more than two tenths behind his teammate in 16th place.
Stefan Bradl
“I’m happy with this start. This morning we were immediately competitive and in the afternoon we were able to go even faster. We have a different setup than Barcelona, but the feeling is good and we were able to collect a lot of information to further improve the setting of the bike. We have to find a little more speed on the corner exit, but I’m confident for qualifying. The weather is the real unknown, but we are not far from the top guys”.
Loris Baz
“Compared to Barcelona, we made a good step forward and we are positive for qualifying. I still must improve something in corner entry but I am convinced we can do well tomorrow. I will try to do my best to stay close to the other Open bikes”.
More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:
ASSEN ROUND FOR MOTOGP
In the first practice sessions Bautista and Melandri are hard at work on new materials and setups for their Aprilia RS-GP bikes.
Assen (Holland), 25 June 2015 – For Aprilia Racing Team Gresini the first two practice sessions of the Dutch GP round were the ideal continuation of the tests begun at Barcelona the Monday after the last race. That was a day of testing which, as we all know, was hindered by poor weather. Completely in line with a season that for Aprilia is one long test session and race trial, some of the solutions tested at Barcelona were therefore brought to Assen to be tested directly in the free practice sessions of this round. At the end of the day Bautista, who shaved more than seven tenths off his time between the first and second free practice, finished with the 20th best time (1’35,489) whereas Melandri stopped at 24th place with a time of 1’37,225.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“We had a lot of tests to do at Barcelona in the post-race session but unfortunately we were unable to finish that job because of the rain. So we brought some of that material here. Not al of it because during the weekend the time we have to test is obviously different than on a test day. Above all we tested different stiffness setups both for the front and the swingarm and we found a certain amount of improvement in grip, so tomorrow we’ll keep working in that direction. We also tried an evolution of the seamless gearbox – a fine tuning of some of the details – which we’ll assess now, analysing the components of the gearbox.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“Today we concentrated on testing a few new chassis components in the hopes of taking a few steps forward: Alvaro’s feedback was comforting and that is a positive sign without a doubt. That means that we already have a direction in which to go for tomorrow: we’ll keep working and giving it our all, although we know it won’t be easy, as always.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“In the first free practice session this morning we started to get our bearings and gather the initial data on this track to define a first basic setup. Then in the afternoon we tested the new swingarm that we had tested briefly at Montmelò. The comparative tests showed that the new part makes the bike more stable in the initial part of the acceleration phase. Now we’ll analyse all the data more closely to further improve traction coming out of turns for tomorrow. It was without a doubt a positive day because every improvement, even minimal, is still positive.”
MARCO MELANDRI
“Friday is always a good day to figure out which direction to go. Today we found something positive and tomorrow we’ll try to make some adjustments to the setup. I’m hoping for consistent weather tomorrow.”
More, from a press release issued by Avintia Racing:
Avintia Racing start to work in Assen
25/06/15 Avintia Racing MotoGP – Dutch Grand Prix – FP1-FP2
The first day in Assen has been positive for the Avintia Racing team. Hector Barbera has been working in the race pace and also tried to modify a little bit his riding style using more his body to get the maximum from his Ducati, but it didn’t work as he expected and tomorrow he’ll attack from the first free practice session. Mike Di Meglio found a good base set up to work during the weekend and he improved quite a lot in the second practice session this afternoon. The position of the riders in the time sheets doesn’t reflect the work made inside the garage towards Saturday race, but both riders are satisfied and they know that is possible to improve in tomorrow’s qualifying. But always with an aye on the sky as in Assen the rain can appear at any moment during the weekend.
HECTOR BARBERA #8 / 21st (6th Open) 1’35.538 @HectorBarbera
Today was a really strange day, because during last week we made have been training different things trying to change a little bit my riding style, but it did not work here. In the afternoon I felt better and we have been working in the race pace, and overall I think it was good. But when we put the soft rear tyre to try to improve the lap time, the tyre had some problem and the bike was moving everywhere and when I tried to push harder, it moved more and more. Tomorrow I’ll change and go back to my usual riding style, because until now it was working better. Everything is really tight and we are getting closer to the factory bikes in every race. The race on Saturday can be very funny.
MIKE DI MEGLIO #63 / 22nd (7th Open) 1’35.663 @Mikejpp63
We are far, but at the same time close to the other Open Class bikes. The Honda and the Yamahas are working really well in the corners, but we have made a good step forward during this afternoon session, and we also improved the race pace. We need to do another step tomorrow because we need to get closer, but the positive is that today we found a good base to work. We still struggling to turn the bike and also we are loosing in the corner exit. Tomorrow we will try to improve the bike when is turning with the gas.
More, from a press release issued by CWM LCR Honda:
TOP FIVE FOR CRUTCHLOW AFTER DAY ONE
The first day of practice at the Dutch TT took place under perfect conditions at the historic Assen circuit on Thursday, with blue skies throughout the day and temperatures hovering around the 22°C mark.
That helped CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow put in a solid day of work as he prepared his factory Honda RC213V for Saturday’s race around the 4.542km/2.822 mile track. After testing several things for the factory in the morning whilst working with used tyres, he then pushed on in the afternoon to finish the day less than three-tenths off his Honda colleague Dani Pedrosa.
Cal Crutchlow #35 – 5th (1’33.734)
“It was a strange day but overall I’m really pleased with the way we worked because we used old tyres for the whole of the first session and some of the second session. When people had switched to new tyres it looked a bit concerning, but we knew we could put in some decent lap times, and then we did. So overall I’m really happy.”
“We went through some things with the bike that Honda wanted us to try, and this is why we were a bit off the pace in the first free practice. Tomorrow we will be able to focus on our own job and continue to push towards the front. We’re trying to help Honda though, they are our manufacturer and it’s nice that they put the trust in us to give them some important information.”
More, from another press release issued by CWM LCR Honda:
MORE TO COME FROM MILLER IN ASSEN
The first day of practice at the Dutch TT took place under perfect conditions at the historic Assen circuit on Thursday, with blue skies throughout the day and temperatures hovering around the 22°C mark.
The good weather helped Jack Miller put in an impressive first free practice session, where he finished in 11th place and ahead of several other Honda riders. However CWM LCR Honda man was the only rider unable to lower his time again later in the day, and ended up as 19th quickest.
Nonetheless, the Australian is confident of rediscovering the form he found early on when he takes part in Friday’s qualifying session.
Jack Miller #43 – 19th (1’35.646)
“It was a good first session this morning, but we just didn’t seem to find the same kind of confidence in the afternoon and we weren’t able to improve which was a real shame. So I’m not too happy about that, but we have some ideas for tomorrow.“
“We need to test some more things on the bike and try and get the confidence back to where it was in free practice one. I look forward to qualifying tomorrow however, and I hope I can do a good job to put us closer to the front for the start of the race.”
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Record-breaking Pedrosa heads first day of Free Practice
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa sets the fastest ever lap MotoGP lap around the TT Circuit Assen to top the opening day combined timesheets.
Pedrosa outshone his rivals to end the first day of Free Practice at the Motul TT Assen on top after setting a blistering record lap of 1’33.450 during FP2, beating his teammate Marc Marquez’s 2014 best (1’33.462) in the process.
Today’s practice sessions took part in surprisingly warm and sunny conditions at the TT Circuit Assen, the only track that has been ever-present in the World Championship calendar since it began in 1949. Track temperatures peaked at 40 degrees Celsius in FP2 and with the forecast for Friday showing a chance of rain, today’s Free Practice sessions took on extra emphasis as riders tried to secure automatic qualification through to Q2. With this in mind, as the clocked ticked down towards the end of FP2, riders headed out on fresh tyres to try and set a flying lap.
Repsol Honda made it a 1-2 on the combined timesheets, as Marquez, who had earlier crashed on his out-lap in FP1, set the second fastest time of the day, just 0.139s behind Pedrosa. Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi (+0.202s), using a new frame which his team debuted last week at a private test at Motorland Aragon, ended the day in third after he had earlier topped FP1 for the first time since Indianapolis last year.
Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone (+0.249s) was fourth, with Cal Crutchlow (+0.284s) on the CWM LCR Honda the leading Satellite rider in fifth. The man who has won the last four races in a row, Jorge Lorenzo (+0.291s), was in sixth ahead of the second Ducati Team GP15 of Andrea Dovizioso (+0.394s) who ended the day in seventh. Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) made use of the softer option tyre available to him to finish in eighth, ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) and the second GSX-RR of Maverick Viñales who completed the top ten.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith found himself outside of the top ten in 13th, along with Scott Redding (14th) on the Factory spec EG Marc VDS Honda. Stefan Bradl was the leading Open class rider in 15th, while the Aspar Team MotoGP Honda’s of Eugene Laverty, who was using a new swingarm today, and Nicky Hayden finished in 17th and 18th respectively.
Check out the combined results from the first day of MotoGP™ Free Practice; FP3 starts 9:55am local time on Friday.
More, from a press release issued by OCTO Pramac Racing:
Petrux ends up 9th with a spectacular T4. Yonny very close to the Top 10
A super Danilo Petrucci ends up 9th following a spectacular T4. Yonny Hernandez very close to the Top 10 with great confidence in friday’s qualifying.
These are the Octo Pramac Racing’s thursday high-lights in the Grand Prix of the Netherlands.
Petrux’s goal was to improve his performances during free practices and the rider from Terni has maintained strong expectations by lapping fast in the morning setting the tenth laptime, 9 tenths of a second behind the best laptime of Valentino Rossi. Petrux managed to do even better in Fp2 recording a sensational T4 (21”559) which allowed him to end up the day in ninth place (1’34.133) gaining the virtual Q2.
Following the “epic-save” after having lost the front in corner 1 during the Fp1, Yonny managed to gain more than one and a half second on his morning lap time finishing 12th in FP2 (1’34.406)
Petrux ends up 9th with a spectacular T4. Yonny very close to the Top 10
9° – Danilo Petrucci – OCTO Pramac Racing #9 – 1’34.133
“I’m really satisfied. I lapped strong and this was an important goal. I went out once with the soft tire and I managed to exploit it in the best way. I took the trail of Iannone and I have to thank him, but I was competitive even when I was alone. T4? I run very fast as it is one of my favourite corners in the championship. The rain? I still have to prove everything. So I’m just focused on the conditions that I find on the circuit day by day”.
12° – Yonny Hernandez – OCTO Pramac Racing #68 – 1’34.406
“We are working hard to win the Top 10 and we are not far. During the morning we had some difficulties but in Fp2 we have made progresses. I hope tomorrow we can do even a further step. I have to improve in the last part of the circuit”.
More, from a press release issued by Aspar Team:
Eugene Laverty impressed with new swingarm at Assen
POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar takes steps forward with new material in afternoon session
The Dutch TT got underway at the TT Circuit Assen this morning with some sensational lap times, most noticeably from Dani Pedrosa, who smashed the circuit record with the fastest ever lap of the legendary track by a motorcycle. With 24ºC ambient temperatures the conditions were perfect for riding today although the forecast looks less favourable for the rest of the Grand Prix. Valentino Rossi set the pace in this morning’s opening session, followed by Marc Márquez, with the Spaniard taking control in the afternoon as he opened up a gap of over half a second from the rest of the field. It seems as though his decision to switch back to last year’s chassis has been the right one, even though he was robbed of the best time of the day by his team-mate Pedrosa, with that stratospheric lap of 1’33.450 late in the second session.
Eugene Laverty was like a kid with new shoes today as he put the new swingarm that he tested after the GP de Catalunya to good use. The POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar rider gathered some data with the older version during this morning’s session before switching to the new one this afternoon, when he went a full second quicker, making more than favourable back-to-back comparisons that have given him optimism about the potential of the new material. It didn’t prove to be quite such a positive first day for his team-mate Nicky Hayden, however, the American suffering electronic problems this morning that set back his programme significantly throughout the day. Nicky did manage to improve his lap times this afternoon but must work on finding a better feeling and more consistency tomorrow.
17th Eugene Laverty 1.35.047 (43 laps): “We were able to work with the new swingarm today but in the first session this morning I preferred to do a long run on the old one so that we could compare. The feeling with the new one was very positive and I could already feel the potential. Obviously we are not going to perform miracles in one day, we need to go step by step but the first impressions are positive and it gave me the stability and confidence I was looking for. The grip in corner entry is incredible. We improved considerably from one session to the other and managed to set some consistent laps. The bike is easier to ride now, I am more comfortable in the fast corners and I can follow other riders, which is useful for us to know exactly where we’re at.”
18th Nicky Hayden 1.35.149 (34 laps): “I have good memories of Assen, this is a great circuit with a lot of history but today has’t been a positive day for us. We had a few technical issues this morning and I couldn’t get out for my final run. The team has worked very hard but we didn’t manage to find a solution so we switched to the second bike for the afternoon. My electronics engineer spent the day trying to fix our issues and we improved the lap times in the second session but the feeling and the rhythm wasn’t perfect. I am losing a lot of time in T2, which is a sector that doesn’t exactly hold many secrets. We will keep working tomorrow and try to improve.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR MOVE FORWARD IN ASSEN
Team SUZUKI ECSTAR’s Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales continued the work to find the good set up of their GSX-RRs today at the TT Assen Circuit in The Netherlands and set positive lap times within the top-10 overall.
Both riders continued the positive progress from the Barcelona and Aragon tests in Spain last week, with improvements to the power-delivery and also the electronics. In both today’s sessions the rider salso focused on finding the most-effective lines to interpret the track with their GSX-RRs.
At the end of the day, both Espargaro and Viñales scored top-10 positions and will try to access Q2 tomorrow; Esparagaro (8th) with a time of 1’33.857 and Viñales (10th) on 1’34.232.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“It’s another positive start for us, both our riders are in the top-10 and the work they have done gave positive responses. This track is very demanding, but we had a lot of information from the recent tests and we are exploiting this knowledge. Of course being a new team means that at every circuit you have to start from zero with the machines’ set-up. In Barcelona the work was easier and we immediately made progress, while here we need some more time. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow, but for the moment we are in the top-10 and I’m positive for the next sessions.”
Aleix Espargaro:
“It was a strange day because we had to struggle to find the better set-up for my machine. I like this track a lot, but I am still missing something to feel totally confident. Between FP1 and FP2 we pretty-much changed everything on the bike in terms of electronics and set-up. We started from the data collected in Aragon and from there we tried to improve. There is not such a big difference between soft and hard tyres here, so I preferred to focus on the hard ones, because we will have those next year, so it’s wiser to work with future plans if the difference is not so big. However, I’m in the top-10 and the time is pretty good and also some early trials for the pace gave positive reponses. Overall I’m confident that tomorrow we will make further improvements.”
Maverick Viñales:
“We still have a lot of work to do because the machine is very responsive to the changes we make, but I still need to find the best set-up. Also I need to better understand the lines. This is a very-demanding track, so different from the previous ones, and I’m struggling to be effective, expecially in last part of the track. However, I feel positive for tomorrow as the test we made on the pace today gave positive responses and the only thing now is to find a better effectiveness on the single lap. It is also positive that at the moment we are already in Q2, so that if the weather tomorrow will turn into rain we will have an advantage.”