FIM MotoGP World Championship Assen, Netherlands June 24 Qualifying Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), 1:34.718 2. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:34.727 3. Casey STONER, Australia (HONDA), 1:35.008 4. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:35.143 5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), 1:35.244 6. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Great Britain (YAMAHA), 1:35.329 7. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (DUCATI), 1:35.742 8. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), 1:35.818 9. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:35.866 10. Randy DE PUNIET, France (DUCATI), 1:36.435 11. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:36.564 12. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 1:36.580 13. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:36.590 14. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:36.820 15. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:37.130, crash 16. Toni ELIAS, Spain (HONDA), 1:37.651, crash 17. Kousuke AKIYOSHI, Japan (HONDA), 1:39.006 More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista will start Saturday’s Dutch TT from the fifth row of the grid after qualifying in 14th place at Assen today. Bautista (1’36.820, 29 laps) struggled to get the grip he was looking for from his Suzuki GSV-R around the 4,542m Dutch circuit, especially through the fast left-handers towards the end of the lap. He worked with his crew to find a solution, both during this morning’s extended practice session and in this afternoon’s qualifying. He did make steps throughout the qualifying session and improved his time by over two seconds from his morning’s best, but was still disappointed with the day’s events. This afternoon’s qualifying was held with the constant threat of rain from the dark clouds overhead, fortunately it stayed dry – but quite cool – for the whole hour. Honda’s Marco Simoncelli took his second pole position of the season. Tomorrow’s Grand Prix is the only Saturday race on the calendar and the main event is scheduled to get underway at 15.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT), but with rain still possible it could turn into an interesting race for all concerned. Álvaro Bautista: “I’m not happy with today at all! I have had a rear grip problem all day, especially entering the left corners – but really over the whole track. We worked hard to get the bike more grip, but still I struggled and this affected my confidence because I couldn’t enter the corners like I want. This was causing me to lose too much speed on the entry and then gave me problems in the exit. I don’t feel very comfortable on the bike and we’re going to try something in tomorrow’s warm-up, to give me a better feeling. It has been a difficult weekend so far and losing the practice yesterday was tough because I think if we had had that it might have helped us to find a solution. We have a chance to try something tomorrow morning, but we also have to watch the weather because it looks like it could be wet. We certainly need to do something to resolve this grip issue, because I thought we would move forward at this race after the result in Silverstone and I really wanted to do well here.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “The good news is that we went 2.2 seconds quicker this afternoon than this morning, but the bad news is that everyone else went quicker as well so it didn’t improve our overall situation. Our level has been disappointing this weekend, Álvaro has no physical complaints and we’re only looking to move forward, but we just haven’t been able to produce the temperature in the left-hand-side of the tyre to give Álvaro the confidence he needs especially towards the end of the lap. The guys will be working hard to find some more solutions overnight, but the biggest help to us right now would be warmer weather and bright sunshine tomorrow, so that we can get the rear tyre working properly.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Second pole for Simoncelli after tricky day at Assen Round 7: Dutch TT Qualifying TT Assen Circuit, Friday 24 June 2011 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear (asymmetric): Medium, Hard San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli will start tomorrow’s Dutch TT from pole position, his second in the premier class, after a strong performance in a dry qualifying session saw him set his fifth successive front row start. Simoncelli and Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies dominated the hour-long session today, each spending time at the top of the timesheets and ending up separated by just 0.01seconds. Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner completes tomorrow’s front row, whilst the second row comprises Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow who until the closing minutes held a provisional third position. After the downpour yesterday that cancelled the afternoon free practice session, the schedule today was restructured to make up for the loss of track time and the morning practice session lasted for 90 minutes. The weather today was improved, and although rain showers interrupted running this morning and left the track slippery, most of the running for the MotoGP class was in the dry. As the temperature was low and the track still slippery, most riders favoured the softer option rear slicks but the harder fronts. Generally track conditions so far this week have been very tricky and there have been many crashes in all three World Championship classes. By the end of MotoGP qualifying the laptimes at the front were near the lap record pace, but it has not been easy for the riders. Hirohide Hamashima Assistant to Director, Motorsport Tyre Development Division “Conditions today were tricky especially in the morning because of the low temperature and the intermittent rain that gave the circuit little time to clean fully and left it very slippery. In fact the track temperature was 15 degrees Celsius lower than during qualifying here last year. Marco’s pole time was just 0.2seconds off the lap record set last year, but the effect of the conditions was felt more during the initial laps and in the area of tyre warm-up. For this reason, our softer option slicks were favoured all day today. This is something we are looking at very carefully, and speaking to the riders at length about, as we focus our efforts on this area. “The double-length practice session this morning gave the riders the same amount of track time as a normal GP weekend, but less time to work on settings and development without the usual overnight break between FP2 and FP3. Nevertheless, riders have now had running in both wet and dry conditions so far, which is good as the weather tomorrow is looking just as mixed and there is every chance of a rain-interrupted race.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Heroic Cal Crutchlow fights for front row in Assen Cal Crutchlow demonstrated his skill and bravery to mount a stunning challenge for a maiden front row grid position at the world famous Circuit van Drenthe in Assen this afternoon. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider powered his YZR-M1 machine to a best time of 1.35.329 to move into third position with less than a minute of today’s qualifying session remaining. But in a typically nail-biting finale, the 25-year-old was unforunately dropped down to the second row of the grid and he will start tomorrow’s 26-lap Iveco TT Assen from sixth position for the third successive race. Crutchlow’s performance was even more impressive considering he was riding in considerable discomfort from the left collarbone he broke in five places just 13 days ago at Silverstone. Conditions for this afternoon’s session were the best of the weekend so far, with no disruption caused by rain showers that had been predicted. The dry track made riding a more physically demanding challenge for Crutchlow, particularly in the sections requiring fast changes of direction, though he showed his trademark grit and determination to finish less than 0.2s behind reigning World Champion and factory Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo. Colin Edwards will start from eighth position on the grid, the American also producing a gutsy performance as he rode through the pain barrier once again. Muscle damage around his right ribcage suffered in a crash at the Catalunya round in Spain three weeks ago was more problematic for the 37-year-old today as he set a best time of 1.35.818. Like Crutchlow, he was experiencing difficulty tackling the fast changes of direction. But key improvements to the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine made him more comfortable and he is confident he can fight for a top six in tomorrow’s race. Cal Crutchlow 6th 1.35.329 28 laps: “I was on the front row right at the end and it just got taken away, but I’m still really happy because I came here and didn’t think I’d even be riding at this stage of the weekend. I thought I’d only be able to do a few laps because of my collarbone injury and here I am fighting for the front row. I think I went for it on my last soft tyre a little bit too early to be honest but I can’t be disappointed. Sixth seems to be my position on the grid at the moment because that’s the third race in a row I’ve started from that place. My shoulder is really sore now too. The 90-minute session this morning followed by another hour this afternoon means I can really feel the collarbone throbbing. The fast changes of direction are the biggest issue. Flicking the bike through some of those fast kinks is hard enough when you’ve got full strength, so for me having a big operation to plate my collarbone only last week, it is really difficult. To be honest I hope it rains for the race tomorrow, but I’ll try my best for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team whatever the weather.” Colin Edwards 8th 1.35.818 25 laps: “Riding in the dry made it pretty tough on my body today. With the extra 45 minutes this morning, it has been physically demanding. The collarbone I broke in Catalunya is fantastic but the damaged muscles around my ribs have hurt a lot today and made it hard to change direction. We changed a couple of things to the bike to make it more comforta ble for me. The bike is more stable and easier to change direction and while it might not be an advantage for the lap time, it has certainly helped my ability to push more to my normal level. My lap times aren’t terrible but in certain parts of the track it is hard to push. I just don’t have the strength. Some of those changes of direction, you’re flat-out in fifth gear and I just don’t have the power to throw the bike around. Taking a deep breath was hard because of the ribs, but we got today out of the way and I might wake up tomorrow morning and miraculously feel better. I doubt that will be the case, but the race is a different thing. When the lights go out and the adrenaline kicks in, I probably won’t feel a thing and I’ll be giving it my maximum in the wet or the dry.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha MotoGP Team: Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies delivered his finest qualifying performance of the year so far at The Assen TT today. The Texan had been consistently quick in the morning’s extended final free practice having found a good set up for the Dutch circuit. The dry morning session saw him over 15 seconds faster than yesterday’s wet practice, ending in third just 0.26 seconds from provisional pole. Spies then went on to attack the afternoon qualifying session and was rarely outside the top two. He had been on track to claim his first pole position start of the year until Loris Capirossi crashed in front of him on his final hot lap. As a result he will start from the front row in second position having finished just 0.009 seconds from Marco Simoncelli on pole. Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo enjoyed a similar morning practice to his team mate, finding a good pace to finish the final free session just behind Spies in fourth although he was less happy with his bike set up. The afternoon’s qualifying proved similarly challenging with Lorenzo finding an improvement from the morning but still ending in fourth on the second row having been unable to find the perfect setting for the faster chicanes. Ben Spies Position : 2nd Time: 1’34.727 Laps: 27 “The best qualifying of the year so far, it was a good session for us. We would have liked to get pole position but unfortunately on my fast lap Loris went down and there were a lot of yellow flags. I want to be a little bit upset but I want him to be ok a lot more than I wanted pole position. All in all it was a great qualifying, the bike is working really good, race pace is good so I’m confident for the race tomorrow. I don’t know what kind of weather we are going to get so we’ll see how it goes.” Jorge Lorenzo Position : 4th Time: 1’35.143 Laps: 28 “Today has been a complicated practice and qualifying. We made many stops in the morning session and in the qualifying. The most important thing is we can see that our closest championship rivals are pretty close but I know we still need to make a step forward to be better. I have had problems in the fast corners today, I didn’t have so much grip on the rear so we have work to do for tomorrow. I’m very confident the team will do a good job to be ready to fight for the podium for the 50th Anniversary. Obviously the weather is not helping and we should be ready for both wet and dry conditions.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “Not such an easy qualification, Jorge was complaining a lot about his feeling of safety on the bike in the faster sections of the track and also rear grip so we need to work on that for tomorrow. Finally fourth position is not terrible but the worst we have been so far this year. Let’s see what we are able to do tomorrow morning to improve the package; this is our focus now.” Massimo Meregalli Team Director “Ben did a really great job today. He pushed all practice and was clever to think about when to use the soft tyre as conditions were quite unpredictable during qualifying. I saw him very confident on the track this weekend so tomorrow I have high expectations that he will be part of the leading group. Jorge as we know is a fighter, even though he is starting from the second row I am expecting him to be one of the top four riders fighting for victory. The team is still working hard, after Barcelona we made a big improvement with bike set up and this is helping the riders.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: Front row start for Stoner after difficult day for the Repsol Honda Team After yesterday’s FP2 was cancelled due to track conditions, this morning offered the first opportunity for the Repsol Honda riders to set up their RC212V’s in dry conditions in an extended 90 minute session at the Assen circuit. However, within the first fifteen minutes all three Repsol Honda riders experienced crashes. Casey Stoner was the first to fall after a violent incident in turn nine, thankfully the Australian rider walked away unharmed. Andrea Dovizioso also crashed on the same lap, and corner as Stoner with a big high side. After a visit to the medical centre, the Italian was given the ‘all clear’ and escaped with an injured left little toe and some pain in his back and neck. Then within minutes, Hiroshi Aoyama, standing in for injured Dani Pedrosa, fell from his RC212V in turn thirteen. He too visited the medical centre and was happy to walk out without any serious injury. The three riders got back on their bikes and spent the remainder of the session getting their confidence back and working on set up for the Qualifying. Fortunately the weather stayed dry for the Qualifying session and Casey Stoner was able to secure a front row place for tomorrow’s Assen TT. Andrea Dovizioso will start from fifth position and Hiroshi Aoyama from 12th. CASEY STONER 3rd 1’35.008 “Today hasn’t been the best day for us, after this morning’s fall, our confidence was dented a little and we weren’t willing to push too hard. The only dry track time we’ve had is today which has meant we’ve had to do everything in one day. We’re struggling with the left hand side of the tyre, we just can’t seem to get the temperature in to it, so I’m losing a lot of time on all the left hand corners. Also, we found it difficult to get the bike settled in the rear, so we have some work to do tonight and tomorrow in warm up but we’re confident we can find something and improve. Qualifying went ok, we’re happy with front row and I don’t think we could have matched Marco’s time, it was pretty impressive and he’s been consistently fast all weekend here, to be honest I’m a little bit disappointed with our race pace which we need to improve quite a lot so we’ll have to see what we can do for tomorrow”. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 5th 1’35.244 “I’m happy with today’s final result. Starting from the second row, at five tenths from the fastest rider is positive after this morning’s incident. I crashed exiting turn 9 on the second lap as there was a wet spot next to the white strip that you cannot see when you enter the corner also, the tyre on the left was not up to temperature yet. I had a high side and it was a hard impact on the ground but fortunately I have no real problems apart from some pain in my back and neck. It’s the first time for a while that I have had such a big accident and I was really happy with the protection from the leathers and boots. This morning we lost 45 minutes of practice time, so I hope that tomorrow we can have a dry warm up to make some small changes on the set up of the bike. I’m confident for the race, but it will be important to take care in the first laps because with these condit ions we struggle to bring the tyres up to temperature”. HIROSHI AOYAMA 12th 1’36.580 “It’s not been an easy weekend so far. Yesterday I didn’t have much time to work on the bike because of the cancellation of FP2 and this morning I had a crash at the beginning of the practice. I saw Casey and Andrea falling in a left hand corner and I immediately thought I had to be careful because here it’s very difficult to get grip in left corners. But a few corners later I crashed and it was totally unexpected. It was a big one, around 190 kilometres per hour and I hit my back. It was very painful, I received an injection at Clinica Mobile for the Qualifying Practice, but in the end the pain remained almost the same. I hope I can rest a bit tonight and feel better for the race tomorrow”. More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: REAR GRIP ISSUES AFFECT ELIAS’ PERFORMANCE AT ASSEN QUALIFYING Assen, 24 June: Working with his crew to find the right machine balance for the floating nature of Assen race track, LCR Honda MotoGP rider Toni Elias could not translate his good pace in the wet in a positive performance in today’s 60-minute qualifying session. After yesterday’s cancellation of second free session Elias and his competitors had an exceptional 90-minute session in the dry to fine tune their bikes ahead tomorrow’s 26-lap race. The Spaniard riding the RCV has increased his pace in this morning free session getting the 10th position but struggled to maintain the top ten on qualifiers taking the 16th spot on the grid. Elias: “I am very disappointed because this morning we have found a good bike balance and I could ride with more confidence after a long time. But in the afternoon qualifying the same set up has not worked as we expected and I have struggled with rear grip once again in the exit of the curves. Trying to increase the pace we went for a harder tyre but I crashed at 8 minutes to go. This means another tough start from the last row for me but I do not lose my concentration because we must find the right way to adjust this bike”. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: Loris Capirossi won’t take part in the season’s seventh Grand Prix, at Assen. The Pramac Racing Team rider was the victim of a bad crash in the hard-fought final minutes of qualifying; the medical exams he underwent after the fall (in which the Italian was hit by his own bike)””first in the mobile clinic, then in the hospital in Assen””excluded serious injuries, but a dislocated right shoulder and injured rib cartilage will force the veteran to sit out the race. His best time was 1:37.130, for 15th place. The atmosphere is calmer on the other side of the team’s garage. Randy De Puniet seems to have overcome the difficulties with bike setup that he has experienced lately. The Frenchman finished qualifying with the tenth-best time (1:36.435), and tomorrow he’ll start from the fourth row. Marco Rigamonti – Randy De Puniet’s Track Engineer “The feeling with the bike definitely isn’t the same as what we had in Qatar and at Jerez, but this week the problems that Randy had with the bike have diminished significantly. This aspect is very important for all of us, as we have to find the confidence we had at the beginning of the season. The results once again highlight the problems with the Ducati; we’re just behind Hayden and ahead of Rossi. The weather will be very important tomorrow. We’re not yet going like we’d like in the wet, so we hope it will be dry when we’re on the track.” Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team 10th, 1’36.435 “I’ll start from the tenth spot””too bad because I only missed the third row by a few tenths. Right now, it’s impossible to do better, so we’ll have to work to try and improve the feeling with the bike; anyway, it has improved compared to the last few races, especially Silverstone. Tomorrow I’ll have to fight in order to finish the race in this position, but I’ll try not to push too hard and instead just take advantage of any opportunities I get. My goal is to reduce the gap to the other satellite Ducatis and to steadily lessen the problems with the bike.” Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team 15th, 1’37.130 “There’s not much to say. It’s not much fun to be crushed by a bike at high speed. I’m feeling better now, although I’m sorry to miss tomorrow’s race. I crashed as I was at my best; I could have dropped my time, but the problem in left-hand corners, which we had already experienced in the morning’s free-practice session, caused me to lose control. Tomorrow I’ll go back to Monte Carlo, and in two days I’ll undergo some more checks on my physical condition.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: HAYDEN NINTH, ROSSI ELEVENTH IN ASSEN QUALIFYING Nicky Hayden had some difficulty finding a good rhythm during qualifying for the Assen TT, but a change to a different shock setting helped to improve his feeling with the bike near the end of the session and to finish with the ninth-best time. After yesterday’s very positive initial outing in the rain during free practice, Valentino Rossi had only two hours to set up his new bike on a dry track and he wasn’t able to replicate yesterday’s performance. Tomorrow he’ll have to start from the eleventh spot on the grid. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 9th, 1:35.866 “This morning we were trying to learn the step 2 chassis, but with the rain, we never got to compare back-to-back with the step 1 in similar conditions so, for this afternoon, we went with what we knew. We struggled a bit at the beginning of qualifying, and then when we put in the soft tyres, we also changed to a different shock setting that helped put some temperature in the tyre. I started getting a better feel and going faster, and like always, it would have been nice to get a few more laps. It’s not why we’re on the third row, but when Capirossi crashed, they should have red-flagged the session, because he was in the run-off area of a fast place. We’ve had just about every condition this weekend, so we’ll see what we get tomorrow. It could be a wild race.” Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 11th, 1:36.564 “We’re disappointed with qualifying because we had started quite well yesterday, so clearly, we expected things to go better today. We had a decent session this morning, but we weren’t able to improve, so we’ll start eleventh. The rear of the GP11.1 is better than the previous version, but we weren’t able to find a setup that allowed us to bring the tyres up to temperature, and at the moment, that’s making it difficult to find the feeling I need to ride hard and be strong on corner entry. I don’t think we’ve yet learned how to properly adjust the bike, and that’s something we knew could happen since we have so little time available. Still, this all helps us to gather experience for the future, and we have some ideas for tomorrow’s warm-up session that we hope will help us go faster in the race.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: SIMONCELLI AND STONER ON FRONT ROW IN ASSEN Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) sped to his second pole of the season at the Dutch TT, while Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) recovered from a crash earlier in the day to take third on the front row. Simoncelli dominated the session almost from start to finish, though Ben Spies (Yamaha) did put in a quick lap that threatened Simoncelli’s dominance. Simoncelli set the fast time early in the one hour session, held in cool, sunny weather, and was only displaced twice and both times by Spies. The first time was for only one lap, the second time for about ten minutes. Simoncelli’s absence from the top, ended when he set his fastest lap with nearly 16 minutes to run. And on the next lap he set a time that would hold up for the pole, a lap of 1m, 34.718s. That put the Italian on pole for the second time in three races. It also continued a streak of qualifying excellence; he’s been either first or second for four races in a row. MotoGP World Championship leader Stoner said that his confidence was knocked back a bit when he crashed early in the 90-minute morning free practice. Stoner fell when he hit a wet patch which he hadn’t seen the previous lap. The Australian later returned to the track, but couldn’t improve his time because he couldn’t generate enough heat in the left side of the rear tyre. Stoner wasn’t the only member of the Repsol Honda team to fall. Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso also crashed on a wet patch, spectacularly. But other than some pain in his neck and back, he was unhurt. And Hiroshi Aoyama, standing in for the injured Dani Pedrosa, fell soon after Dovi at 190kph. Stoner was off the front row when he put in his fast lap of 1m, 35.008s just as the checkered flag fell and when he was hopeful of one final pole run. Later he would say that he didn’t have the pace to match “Super Sic” today. Dovizioso had an eventful day. His morning high-side was the most dramatic and damaging of the three crashes suffered by the Repsol Honda teammates. Following the spill, Dovi missed 45 minutes of the session before returning to the track in a new set of leathers. He was in third before Stoner moved him down to fourth, and Dovi would lose one more spot to Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), the Majorcan who was .101s faster with his final lap. Dovi will start from the middle of the second row and only .236s off the front row. Hiroshi Aoyama, who normally races in the colors of San Carlo Honda Gresini, qualified 12th aboard the Repsol Honda RC212V of Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa continues to recover from surgery on his broken right collarbone and will almost certainly return to racing at next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. Being on an unfamiliar motorcycle, Aoyama needed as much track time as possible suffered from the cancellation of Thursday afternoon’s session. That practice was scrubbed after several Moto2 bikes leaked oil on the track and attempts to clean it expeditiously proved difficult. Aoyama received a pain-killing injection prior to qualifying, but it did little good. Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP) ended his session prematurely with a crash. The Spaniard wasn’t able to make the most of the softer rear tyre, having set his fastest lap on the fifth of 26. He qualified 16th and one spot in front of Honda test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi. Akiyoshi was aboard Aoyama’s San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V while his fellow countryman moved to the Repsol Honda team. Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing-Kalex) continued his remarkable season by taking his fifth pole in six races in the Honda-powered Moto2 class. The German rider was .295s clear of Marc Marquez (Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol-Suter) in a session that was hit by typically inclement Assen weather, which limited quality track time. Bradl only completed eight laps, with his sixth lap of 1m, 39.306s standing up as the pole time. Bradl goes into Saturday’s seventh race of the championship having won four of six, a performance that has ballooned his championship lead to 62 points. It’s the largest ever margin between first and second after six races in the history of the World Championships. Spanish teenager Marquez completed twice as many laps as Bradl, though he wasn’t as quick. Marquez was hopeful of having a full dry session to improve the set-up of his Honda-powered Suter. With the weather turning for the worse towards the end of the session, Marquez wasn’t able to improve either his set-up or his time. His best lap of 1m, 39.600s came on his eighth of 16 laps. Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project, FTR) only completed seven laps, with his third the fastest of the day. Corsi lamented the changing weather and the effect it had on his set-up time. MotoGP rider quotes Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini: pole position 1m. 34.718s “Obviously I am really happy, but right now I just want everything to go to plan on race day and finally pick up the result I feel myself and the team deserve. The bike is good although obviously not quite 100% because we have not had much time to set it up and there is not a lot of grip in a lot of the corners. I have been fast in the wet and the dry and my pace is good, but now it is important to do well tomorrow maybe the fact we’re racing on a Saturday could be a good omen!” Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda: 3rd 1m, 34.727s “Today hasn’t been the best day for us. After this morning’s fall, our confidence was dented a little and we weren’t willing to push too hard. The only dry track time we’ve had is today, which has meant we’ve had to do everything in one day. We’re struggling with the left hand side of the tyre; we just can’t seem to get the temperature in to it, so I’m losing a lot of time on all the left hand corners. Also, we found it difficult to get the bike settled in the rear, so we have some work to do tonight and tomorrow in warm-up, but we’re confident we can find something and improve. Qualifying went OK. We’re happy with front row and I don’t think we could have matched Marco’s time; it was pretty impressive and he’s been consistently fast all weekend here. To be honest, I’m a little bit disappointed with our race pace which we need to improve quite a lot, so we’ll have to see what we can do for tomorrow.” Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 5th 1m, 35.244s “I’m happy with today’s final result. Starting from the second row, at five-tenths from the fastest rider is positive after this morning’s incident. I crashed exiting turn nine on the second lap as there was a wet spot next to the white strip that you cannot see when you enter the corner. Also, the tyre on the left was not up to temperature yet. I had a high-side and it was a hard impact on the ground, but fortunately I have no real problems apart from some pain in my back and neck. This morning we lost 45 minutes of practice time, so I hope that tomorrow we can have a dry warm-up to make some small changes on the set-up of the bike. I’m confident for the race, but it will be important to take care in the first laps because with these conditions we struggle to bring the tyres up to temperature.” Hiroshi Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 12th 1m, 36.580s “It’s not been an easy weekend so far. Yesterday I didn’t have much time to work on the bike because of the cancellation of FP2 and this morning I had a crash at the beginning of the practice. I saw Casey and Andrea falling in a left hand corner and I immediately thought I had to be careful because here it’s very difficult to get grip in left corners. But a few corners later I crashed and it was totally unexpected. It was a big one, around 190 kilometres per hour and I hit my back. It was very painful. I received an injection at Clinica Mobile for the qualifying practice, but in the end the pain remained almost the same. I hope I can rest a bit tonight and feel better for the race tomorrow.” Toni Elias, LCR Honda MotoGP: 16th 1m, 37.651s “I am very disappointed, because this morning we have found a good bike balance and I could ride with more confidence after a long time. But in the afternoon qualifying the same set-up has not worked as we expected and I have struggled with rear grip once again in the exit of the curves. Trying to increase the pace we went for a harder tyre, but I crashed at eight minutes to go. This means another tough start from the last row for me but I do not want to lose my concentration.” Kousuke Akiyoshi, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 17th 1m, 39.006s “I am happy to be here at Assen and back in MotoGP. Obviously this track is not easy with the changeable weather conditions, but I have tried to do my best and I will continue to do so tomorrow in the warm-up in the hope of having a decent race. I want to thank HRC and Team San Carlo Honda Gresini once again for the opportunity.” Moto2 rider quotes Stefan Bradl, Viessmann Kiefer Racing-Kalex: pole position, 1m, 39.305s “Yeah, this is the most difficult part of this weekend; the weather is changing so fast. But anyway we are having a great level. Normally Assen is not one of my favorite tracks, but, yeah, we arrived here with a great performance and this is good for us. I mean, we are having just a great package right now and it just has to continue to like this. And, yeah, to have the pole position here is a great feeling for me and just wait for tomorrow.” Marc Marquez, Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol-Suter: 2nd, 1m, 39.600s “This second position is important, especially for tomorrow, because this circuit it’s a little bit difficult to pass other riders, but we will see. Now, just I want to improve my set-up of the bike because in some points I think I can improve quite a lot, but for tomorrow we will see which weather we have. But for sure I hope will be dry conditions, but anyway I think we are in a good level in both conditions.” Simone Corsi, Ioda Racing Project-FTR: 3rd, 1m, 39.700s “Yeah, it’s a real shame how things have been this weekend. There just hasn’t been dry or wet at any one moment, it’s been in between all the time. So I hope for tomorrow that it’s one or the other. Stefan (Bradl) has been a step ahead of everyone else, but I’m working really hard to get up there and I just hope I can get away at the front tomorrow and try to put up a good fight in the race. That’s what we need to do.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) displayed his determination for a first premier class podium by sealing his second pole position of the 2011 MotoGP season. The Italian’s hot lap of 1’34.718 left him just 0.009s clear at the top of the timesheet, ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies. Spies stepped up his pace for the weekend, topping the timings at the halfway point of the hour long session and was the first to break into the 1’34s. Stoner clocked a time of 1’35.008 on his Repsol Honda to join the front row for the Iveco TT Assen race. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) again set the fourth fastest time of the day, with a 1’35.143, followed by Andrea Dovizioso who was 0.101s behind the Mallorcan. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Cal Crutchlow, still nursing a broken collarbone from a crash at Silverstone two weeks ago, bravely rode to sixth on the grid, 0.085s behind the Repsol Honda of Dovizioso in fifth. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) had a strong qualifying run, running as high as third in the timings fairly late in the session, to finally put his Ducati in seventh with a time of 1’35.742. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team) followed the Czech by a margin of 0.076s with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) completing the ten fastest times. Valentino Rossi made several visits to the garages, attempted to find a dry set up for the Ducati team GP11.1 though did not make great improvements and will be starting the race from 11th position. Standing in for Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda team, Hiroshi Aoyama will start from 12th position. A disappointing qualifying was had by both Toni Elías (LCR Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) who both crashed out of the qualifying session, leaving Capirossi unable to participate in tomorrow’s race. Moto2 Viessmann Kiefer Racing rider Stefan Bradl set an early fast time under darkening skies to put himself on pole position for the Moto2 race. He is joined by Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) and Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project) on the front row. Having posted the fastest times in both practice sessions, Bradl stepped in front of the field early in the 45 minute Moto2 qualifying session, with a fast lap of 1’39.305 to give him his sixth pole of the 2011 season. Catalan Márquez posted an early lap 0.295s behind the German and Italian Corsi followed with a posted time of 1’39.700 to put him in third. The skies threatened rain as the Moto2 bikes hit the track, and by the halfway point it started to fall. Riders entered the pits to wait it out or change tires, and in the last few minutes of the session most of them hazarded back out on the wet track to make the most of the already shortened weekend track time. Tom Lüthi (Interwetten Moto2 Paddock), Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) and Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40) make up the second row for the start of the race, while Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP), Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) and Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing) comprise row three. Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Racing) completed the top 10 of the qualifying session. 125cc GP 16 year old Maverick Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) set a time one second faster than his FP2 time of 1’44.597, putting him on pole for the 125cc race, his second consecutive pole for the 2011 season in only his seventh World Championship start. French rider Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) pushed hard in the last seconds to surpass the Spanish rookie but had to settle for second, with a time of 1’44.785, a tiny margin of 0.002 ahead of Intact Racing Team Germany rider Sandro Cortese. Variable weather made for an intense 125cc qualifying session, with rain appearing in the first 10 minutes and sending all the riders back to the pits, but not before local rider Jasper Iwema (Ongetta-Abbink Metaal) set an early provisional pole which stood for the first half of the session. As the track dried the lap times dropped, and a serious battle for the lead position began between the class heavyweights Zarco, Cortese, Viñales and Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar). Faubel set a time of 1’44.963, placing him at the front of row 2 for the start, followed 0.272s behind by Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) and Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) completing the second row. Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) crashed out halfway through the qualifying session, his fastest lap placing him seventh on the grid, followed by Nicolás Terol (Bankia Aspar) who crashed on a hot lap, dashing his expectations of a front row start and placing him eighth. The Championship Terol leader crashed earlier in the morning session and fractured the fifth metacarpal of his right hand, in addition to injuring his right ankle. Sergio Gadea (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) also crashed out of the session early after showing in the top three times, will start from ninth, with Danny Kent (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) leading row 4 in tenth position.