Rossi takes first pole since Valencia 2014
Record-breaking Rossi claims sensational pole position for Assen MotoGP Dutch TT
Valentino Rossi sets the fastest ever MotoGP lap around the world famous TT Circuit Assen to claim his first pole position since Valencia in 2014.
Movistar Yamaha’s Rossi dramatically transformed his qualifying fortunes in Assen today by demolishing Casey Stoner’s 2012 pole record by over a second to claim his 61st career pole position. The nine-times World Champion set a 1’32.627 to become the fastest ever rider around the legendary 4.5km track.
With the sun breaking through the clouds and track temperatures reaching 38°C, the scene was set for an epic Q2 at the historic TT Circuit Assen, and the fans in the packed grandstands were not left disappointed. Rossi, who admitted in the build-up to this weekend’s action that his qualifying performances have been his weakest link so far in 2015, responded in magnificent fashion to take his 51st premier-class pole position for the Motul TT Assen. The Italian had earlier finished on top of the combined timesheets after FP3 for the first time since the new two-tiered qualifying system came into place in 2013.
Valentino Rossi – 1st / 1’32.627 / 9 laps – “Assen is always special for me, because I have great memories here. I have won here in the past and a lot of important races in my career took place at this circuit. I love this track, because it’s fantastic. There’s already a lot of crowd assembled here today and this is a good moment, because it gives you a special feeling when you get the pole position, especially for me, because it doesn’t happen that often. Getting pole position is vital for tomorrow. It was very important that I started the weekend well, beginning with yesterday’s first practice session. I felt good with the bike and started with a good basic setting. Today’s result is important because I wanted to start more in front, because we always struggle a lot when qualifying on the second and third row.”
Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro (+0.231s), who had been forced to battle it out in Q1, just missed out on his second successive pole position and will start from second on the grid.
Aleix Espargaro P2 – “I’m very happy with the progress we’ve made. We have improved my GSX-RR a lot since Friday. We had a bad start and had to completely change the bike; I had a lot of chattering and with Tom we decided to change a lot on the front. This is not an easy thing to do but we knew we could do much better. We have also tried some of the set-ups that we tried in Aragon but they weren’t effective here, so we looked for new solutions. In Barcelona, everything was easier while here we struggled more, but at the end I feel I have a good pace and also the fastest-lap is very quick. Here at Assen, the first corner is closer to the start than in Barcelona; therefore I hope I will be able not suffer too many overtakes. It’s important to start from the first-row but we must be aware that qualifying is only one lap and race is longer, but the pace I have makes me confident I can aim for the top-six.”
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez (+0.259s), who had earlier topped FP4, led the session after the first time attack on soft tyres. But he eventually had to settle for third to complete the front row. His teammate Dani Pedrosa (+0.360s) will start from the front of the second row, with Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro (+0.386s) the leading Satellite rider in an impressive fifth.
Marc Marquez P3 – 1’32.886 – “Every rider was on the limit in qualifying. I’m happy, because we knew this circuit was going to be tough for us, but still we are close to Valentino and Jorge, who are very fast and smooth here. We are finding things a little tougher as we are still missing a tenth or half a tenth, but we will try to be as close as possible to them tomorrow and see what happens. I think it will be difficult, especially against Valentino.”
Dani Pedrosa – P4 – 1’32.987 – “Today was useful for confirming the setup of the bike as we were fortunate to be able to have dry track time again for most of the day. In the qualifying session it was amazing how close the times were and I’m happy to have qualified a bit better than at the last Grand Prix in Catalunya. We’ll try to have a good start tomorrow and hope we can do well and have a good race!”
Pol Espargaro – 5th / 1’33.013 / 8 laps – “I am happy to begin from fifth on the grid as it has been a few races since I’ve started from the second row. The qualifying was really tight and I’m pleased that we were able to put a fast lap together, which was our ambition after yesterday’s practice. As we achieved this, we now have a good position to start from in tomorrow’s race. Unfortunately, the changes that we tried in FP4 didn’t work as well as we hoped and I couldn’t ride the bike as aggressively as I wanted to with the low grip levels. So we changed back to the setting that we used before and with the new tyres, things seemed to be a lot better straight away. Now we have to continue to work tomorrow in the warm up in order to be all prepared for the race.”
Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone (0.389s) qualified in sixth with Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda) just 0.012s further back in seventh.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’33.016 (6th) – “A row 2 grid slot is important after the way things went today, but with a bit more fine-tuning we can still improve. Unfortunately on my best lap I found another rider almost stopped in the middle of the track in the last sector and this made me lose some time. We have got a good overall set-up but I am still having a bit of difficulty, especially in the changes in direction, and so we have to analyze the data and understand the reason why. However I’m calm about it because I know we’ve done another step forward, even though it’s not exactly what we want because our aim is to fight for the top positions. In any case we have to be confident because we have the right basis to be more competitive.”
Cal Crutchlow #35 – 7th (1’33.028) – “Obviously I’m disappointed to be in seventh and on the third row for the race, but the times are so close that it honestly could have been anybody on the front row or anyone on the fourth row. Overall, though, I’m happy enough because we’ve done a lot of laps on used tyres, and an especially good stint in Free Practice four with the used tyre. I was quite pleased with that, and hopefully that will pay off in tomorrow’s race. The aim is to get a good start and get past the two Espargaro brothers immediately, and then push on to be with the top five guys because I think our pace is there.”
Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo, the man who trails the Italian by just one point in the Championship standings, will have to start his quest for a fifth straight win from eighth.
Jorge Lorenzo – 8th / 1’33.042 / 8 laps – “We improved the bike a lot and I’m very happy about this. In free practice four I was very competitive with a used tyre, but unfortunately I couldn’t make a very explosive lap during qualifying. I rode four laps that were very similar, but not one was fast enough to be in the first row, so we are going to start from the third row for the first time. We still need to improve in some parts, because we are very fast in T1 and T3, but we were missing something in T2 and T4, especially during qualifying, but our pace is quite good in every sector. The challenge for tomorrow is to make a good start. The race is very long so the most important thing is that there won’t be any rain and I think that with some patience we can little by little make our way to the top.”
Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) completed the top ten.
Maverick Viñales P9 – “I’m happy because we’ve improved a lot since yesterday. This morning we did a very good lap and now we have improved by nearly half-a-second. This means we are doing a really good job, but of course we want more because we feel really competitive and we know that if we make a perfect job we can be very close to the top. But honestly, MotoGP now is nearly like Moto2; if you miss one-or-two tenths you may be ninth or 10th, while being faster by only a few-tenths you can be fifth or fourth. Today in qualifying I had a bad feeling with the first set of tyres; I don’t know what happened, but I felt the bike was always sliding and unstable, then I suddenly changed bikes with the other tyres and I improved a lot. Tomorrow will be a hard race, but I need to be fighting with the top riders and stay close to the front, so the first laps will be crucial to stay with the top riders and have a really good race.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’33.112 (10th) – “It’s really a pity about my qualifying result because I had a good feeling, the bike’s performance was good and I had a chance of doing well. I was just not very good at putting all the best split times together on the same lap and this cost us dearly. There are tracks like these where we’re all bunched together and it’s very easy to lose out. It was important to start further up the grid, because at this circuit you can’t gain much at the start and there isn’t even a long straight where you can overtake. A bit of a pity really, but unfortunately that’s the way things went today. At this point I will try and get a good start tomorrow and then attempt to make up as many places as possible.”
Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing), who made it through from Q1 behind Aleix Espargaro, will start form eleventh, with Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) ending Q2 down in 12th.
Bradley Smith – 12th / 1’33.236 / 8 laps – “I’m quite content with how the bike is feeling for the race tomorrow, so despite being a bit frustrated that I was only 0.2 from fifth, I am still optimistic. We tried a few different settings in FP4 which seem to be positive for the race and have definitely given us a good direction. Due to this, we were weighing up our options before QP2 and considered altering the settings for qualifying, but in the end we decided to remain with what we had. Perhaps we should have risked changing something, but then again, doing that is a gamble and it doesn’t guarantee anything. Nevertheless, I know that I left more than 0.2 on the track and our race pace is more competitive than our position is showing at the moment. I have made things a bit trickier for myself by starting from 12th, but with a strong start, we will be in the mix. Just by looking at the lap times today, we know the race will be very close, plus the track is narrow and so it will be a bit more difficult than usual to find somewhere to pass. Yet, the bike is good and I am looking forward to the 26 lap battle tomorrow.”
Stefan Bradl (Athina Forward Racing) is the leading Open class rider and will start from the front of the fourth row in 13th, while Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Eugene Laverty are 16th and 19th on the grid respectively.
Stefan Bradl – 13th / 1’33.789 / 7 laps – “I’m really happy with this result today and in general we have made a big step forward after Mugello and Barcelona. We have proven to be consistent and fast and we can fight for victory of the Open class. Tomorrow will be a long and tough race where the tyres will begin to suffer after the first few laps: we have to be prepared.”
Loris Baz – 15th / 1’33.999 / 7 laps – “It was not a bad qualifying considering that I’m not 100% fit because of an intestinal virus. In FP4 I was losing the rear a bit but I managed to find a good solution for qualifying. I am just over two tenths from Stefan, the fastest Open, I’m sure I can do a good race and get in the points-zone. Special thanks to the guys from Clinica Mobile, thanks to them I recovered fully and I was able to get on bike for today’s sessions.”
Scott Redding – 1’34.071 – P16 – “Today was a bit better for us and I got a better feeling with the bike again. We improved the lap time with every exit and that’s a positive thing. In previous races we’ve hit a wall with the lap time on day two, but today the improvements continued, although it was too late to secure a slot in QP2. We knew it was going to be tough in QP1, because I’ve struggled to make one flying lap and, here at Assen, we were aware of just how much of an advantage the soft option tyre would be. We’re now focussed on further improving my consistency for the race tomorrow.”
Eugene Laverty 1.34.428 – P19 -“The bike worked well today with used tyres, but our times and our position in the qualifying session are not fantastic. In qualifying with my first tyre I set a good time, but couldn’t with the second. We gave everything we had, finishing as the top Open Honda, but still we are far behind. We can’t be happy with nineteenth on the grid, but it is the first time in the last few races that we can see a positive side. With the new swingarm we will be much consistent in the second half of the race with used tyres, and the feeling with the bike is really positive. This track is not exactly a Honda circuit and maybe that’s why we qualified so far back, but I’m convinced that from now on we will be more competitive in the race, both tomorrow and beyond. Now we have found the right balance and we can control the rear grip, and I’m sure that this will help us to have a good race tomorrow.”
Australian Jack Miller will start from 20th, with Laverty’s teammate Nicky Hayden and 2006 race winner down in 22nd on the grid.
Jack Miller – 20th (1’34.645) – “Of course it’s a little bit disappointing, but we’re reasonably happy because we’ve got good race pace. Actually, we managed to pull out not such a bad lap time if you look at it, but the pace has been so hot round here that it was tough on us. I’ve had a lot of fun getting more and more comfortable on the bike and things are just feeling better all the time. I’m looking forward to the race, because we always seem to be stronger then, so I can’t wait to get away. Our overall pace makes me happy – we’ve done a lot of laps on soft tyres, and they seem to be working well so we will see what happens on Saturday.”
Nicky Hayden 1.34.972 – P22 – “Yesterday my mechanics worked late to fix the problems we had with my first bike. This morning, after two corners, the issues reappeared. So we had to work with only the second bike and we were not able to compare some things. To solve the problem we chose to change the engine between one free practice session and another. We thought it was an electrical problem, but it seems to be something related to the engine. It’s strange, because these bikes do not usually have problems in that aspect. In the final practice session we improved a bit and we had more consistency with used tyres. However, the qualifying session did not go well; the first lap was successful but on the next few we made several mistakes. We have been suffering so far, but I hope that tomorrow we can reverse the situation. It is not the first time this has happened to us and we have gone on to have a good race before, so I’m confident that tomorrow we can turn things around. At least we know that the intermediate tyre is the more useful for the race. Probably where we most need to improve is on acceleration at Turn 5, in the second sector. We will work to try to be ready for the race.”
Alvaro Bautista was hindered by a troubling vibration/chatter in the decisive session (QP1) which he finished with the 21st best time (1’34,736) that places him on the seventh row. Marco Melandri, with the 24th best time (1’36,376) will start from the eighth row.
Alvaro Bautista P21 – “This morning we focused on the setting to improve our race pace and the results were rather positive. Then in FP4 we tried to maintain a good pace on used tyres and in this case we also are quite satisfied with the results. In qualifying, however, the bike vibrated a lot in turns and I was unable to improve on my times. Now we’ll try to figure out why and if there is actually a problem we’ll try to solve it for the race. Our goal for tomorrow is still the same: maintain our pace, make it to the end and gather important data for development. If we are able to battle with the other riders to finish in the points, so much the better.”
Marco Melandri P24 – “I like this track a lot but we still aren’t where we need to be with the chassis. Tomorrow I’ll try to make a few changes to see if we can find the balance that I’ve been lacking to push hard. We’ll see tomorrow.”
Just 0.609s separated the top 12 riders in Q2, with less than three-tenths between second placed Espargaro and Petrucci in 11th on a day in which none of the 24-strong field crashed.
MotoGP 2015 Dutch TT Qualifying Results
Zarco smashes record to clinch a stunning third pole of the 2015 in Moto2
The Moto2 field enjoyed ideal conditions, with track temperatures reaching 36°C as the sun came out for Qualifying. Current championship leader Zarco smashed Marc Marquez’s 2012 pole record (1’37.133) by almost 0.8s on the way to claiming his fourth career Moto2 pole position, setting the fastest ever lap by a Moto2 bike around the 4.5km TT Circuit Assen in the process.
EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Tito Rabat (+0.287s), the reigning Moto2 World Champion, will start from second with Sam Lowes (+0.532s) on the Speed Up Racing bike completing the front row.
Tito Rabat: 2nd – 1’36.633 – “I am happy to be on the front row. I pushed at my maximum in qualifying and the pace was very fast, so it was important to be in the top three. But Johann (Zarco) is faster and that means we can still improve. We need to wait and see what the weather conditions will be like tomorrow but I think it will be a group race and a good start will be key. I will just go for it at full gas!”
Athina Forward Racing’s Simone Corsi (+1.047s) recovered from an early crash at the De Bult corner to start from the front of the second row, ahead of Jonas Folger (+1.088s) on the AGR Team Kalex in fifth and Federal Oil Gresini Racing Moto2’s Xavier Simeon (+1.163s) in sixth.
Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP40), Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten), Lorenzo Baldassarri (Athina Forward Racing) and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) complete the top ten.
2014 Assen Moto2 race winner Anthony West qualified 23rd.
There were crashes for EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Alex Marquez (13th) at the Haarbocth first turn and Ratthapark Wilairot (27th) at the Geert Timmer chicane. Both riders escaped unhurt.
Moto2 Qualifying Results
Bastianini storms to second successive pole in Moto3
Gresini Racing Team Moto3’s Bastianini delivered a stunning a new lap record of 1’41.283 in overcast but dry conditions (Track Temp. 35 °C) at the TT Motul Assen. The Italian claimed his second Moto3 pole position in a row, and in the process laid down an impressive marker to his rivals, as he finished 0.335s ahead of second placed Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0).
Enea – Bastianini (1st – 1’41″283) – “I’m very happy, especially because the weekend didn’t so well yesterday. Today my whole team, my crew chief and my telemetry data engineer worked really well: we made the right moves on the bike and we were able to find the right set-up. Now my bike behaves well in all sections of the track. I don’t make predictions for tomorrow’s race: to be again on pole position is a good start, though!”.
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Karel Hanika (+0.400s) will start from the front row for the first time in his career after ending the session in third. Leopard Racing’s Moto3 World Championship leader Danny Kent (+0416s), who had dominated through Free Practice, will start from the head of the second row after he could only manage to set the fourth fastest time.
Husqvarna Factory Laglisse’s Isaac Viñales (+0.511s) improved dramatically after finishing Free Practice in 18th to start from fifth, while Miguel Oliveira (+0.522s) on the Red Bull KTM Ajo machine completes the second row.
Fabio Quartararo (Estrella Galicia 0,0), Romano Fenati (Sky Racing Team VR46), Efren Vazquez (Leopard Racing) and Francesco Bagnaia (Mapfre Team Mahindra) completed the top ten, with the latter crashing out at Turn 9 before the end of the session.
Andrea Locatelli crashed early in the session also at turn 9 but recovered to start from 14th on the grid, while SAXOPRINT RTG’s Scottish rider, John McPhee, will have to start the race from down in 23rd.
Australia’s only entrant in the Moto3 field, Remy Gardner, will start from 31st on the 36 rider grid.
Today was the first time the Moto3 field had to qualify under the new guidelines from Race Direction aimed at preventing riders cruising on the racing line waiting for a tow.
Moto3 Qualifying Results
