MotoGP World Championship. Holland GP. Second practice session
 DANI
PEDROSA CLOSE TO GETTING POLE AT ASSEN AND STARTS ON THE FIRST
ROW TOMORROW
Second fastest time for the Spanish rider and fourth for
the American Nicky Hayden, who will start on the second row
Rain in the morning, wind and clouds in the afternoon. These
where what the weather conditions were like on the second
day of practice for the Dutch GP, the ninth date in this season`s
MotoGP calendar. After the sun yesterday this morning the
paddock was completely soaked after the rain that fell during
the night, and there were some showers first thing in the
morning.
Luckily the rain stopped during the morning`s 125cc session,
allowing the MotoGP riders to do their third and definitive
free practice session on a dry track. Then in the afternoon
the three timed sessions were completed with the track completely
dry, although a strong wind made things difficult for the
riders when they were out on the track.
In MotoGP, it was a positive day for the two Repsol Honda
Team riders who were already showing big improvements in the
morning. The difficult track conditions in the morning did
not prevent Dani Pedrosa from setting the best time in the
third free session, with his teammate, Nicky Hayden, third.
In the fourth and definitive timed session an intense battle
between the three riders at the top of the classification
was seen, the three at the moment who are fighting week after
week for the victory and the lead in the overall classification.
Dani Pedrosa, Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner spent the second
half of the timed practice – riding with qualification
tyres – involved in a tough fight to win the pole. With
Stoner first and Rossi second, Pedrosa started his fast lap
with his fourth qualification tyre. After improving the provisional
pole time set by Stoner by a little more than two tenths by
the end of the third section, on the fourth Pedrosa was a
little slower, completing his fastest lap just 0.032 seconds
slower than Stoner, and this great time gave him second position
on the starting grid ahead of Rossi.
Nicky Hayden, faster and much more consistent since he started
using the engine with pneumatic valves in the British GP,
also had a good timed session finishing third with a little
over 5 minutes left before the end of the session. In the
end Hayden will start on the second row of the grid tomorrow,
after setting the fourth fastest time.
Tomorrow Julián Simón will start from the second
row of the grid. The Repsol rider was not able to improve
on the times he set yesterday since the track conditions were
not as good today and only a few riders were able to lower
their times from the first day. In the morning, with the track
still damp, Simón had problems with his front suspension,
this stopped him from taking the corners with confidence and
consequently maintaining a high pace. In the afternoon, although
the track was by then dry, the wind blew strongly. Even so,
the Repsol rider was riding comfortably, that was until he
put on his last set of tyres on but then he had problems with
the brakes and was not been able to force the bike too much.
In 125cc the afternoon classification hardly varied from
the one set in the in the first timed session, although the
Repsol rider Marc Márquez was one of the few able to
improve his time. He set the fifth best time this afternoon,
but tomorrow he will start from eighteenth position as the
times from Thursday were used to fix the starting grid. Because
rain fell in the morning the temperatures seen yesterday were
not reached, and the riders had many difficulties improving
their times. During the free practice and on a wet track Márquez
fell, without any consequences for him, when braking on the
eighth curve, but this did not prevent him from trying to
improve his set up.
His, teammate, Esteve Rabat, had to end his training early
because of the engine problems on his KTM 125 FRR. When there
were five minutes left before the end of the session, the
Repsol rider was forced to go to the pits, satisfied with
the fifteenth best time he set yesterday. Rabat, who in the
morning had set the sixth fastest time was ninth on the timed
lap in the afternoon.
Quotes
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa >> 1’35.552 secs, 46 laps, 210 Km.
“I’m very happy with this afternoon’s result,
especially because this will be the first time I’ve
started from the front row in MotoGP at Assen. The first part
of the track is very tight, so it is really important to start
from the front row here.
Casey will try to escape from the pack at the start, which
means it will be crucial to get a good start and try to stay
in contact. We still have some improvements to make. This
is a very complex track for set-up and we need to try some
small changes to help make me feel at ease on the bike because
the pace is going to be very fast tomorrow. Once again the
weather has played a part, this morning’s rain meant
that we couldn’t do any proper work with slicks, so
we aren’t yet 100 per cent sure about our race tyre
choice. If it rains again tomorrow, the race will be more
complicated.”
Nicky Hayden >> 1’35.975 secs, 43 laps,
196 Km.
“This morning the bike was working quite good in the
wet and on intermediates. That session sucked for learning
much about the dry but I got some good experience out there
on intermediates front and rear and it felt quite good, I
was able to stay out and get a good feel for it.
This afternoon seemed to go so quick. We tried a couple of
little things on the front, but after the first run we had
to go back to what we had before because the changes helped
in some areas but overall they made it worse. We started putting
our qualifiers and then I had an issue with the clutch which
lost us some time in the tyre changes, so ultimately I didn’t
get to use my last qualifier, so we had one bullet left in
the chamber that we didn’t use. The Michelin qualifiers
were working awesome round here, every one we put in I kept
getting faster, so it would’ve been fun to fire the
last one in there. It’s going to be a hard race tomorrow,
I’m not making no predictions, we’ll see what
we can do, go for the best result we can.”
250cc
Julián Simón >> 1’40.686 secs, 44
laps, 200 Km.
“Today was a much more difficult day than yesterday.
It rained last night, and in the morning practice the track
was still a little damp. In addition, very windy, and that
meant that I could not improve the times I set yesterday.
In the morning we had a problem with the front suspension,
when I entered the curves it was a bouncing around a bit.
This afternoon, at the beginning I was feeling good, and I
believe that we were ready to set a good time for today`s
conditions. But at the end of the lap we put a new tyre on
and then we had a problem with the brake. When the bike arrived
at a curve the brake lever did not work right. I did not have
much braking power so it would have been very complicated
to improve my time, to even get closer to the riders ahead
of me. Nevertheless we will start on the second row, that
is a good position, so I hope to make the most of this opportunity
and immediately get among the leading group and ride fast
during the whole race.”
125cc
Esteve Rabat >> 1’46.700 secs, 30 laps, 137 Km.
“Today we were able to improve the engine, something
that was not working too well yesterday. Today it seemed that
it ran better and in the rain it worked very well.
I still had some problems with the chassis though. Above all
at the back, when opening the throttle. But in the end we
got it working perfectly and now we have a good set up. Tomorrow
we will have to get off to a good start and hope that the
engine goes well, which will let me keep up with the leading
group and have a good race.”
Marc Márquez >> 1’46.863 secs,
29 laps, 132 Km.
“Today when we we got up it was raining, and the first
practice was in the wet. I had a good pace but I had a problem
with the bike. This afternoon, when we went out on the track
it was very windy.
I tried to improve the times I set yesterday, but few riders
were able to do so, because it was very tough out there. We
must look on the positive side, that is in the afternoon session
I was fifth - although tomorrow I will start eighteenth -
and that we have found the right set up. We will try to improve
a little more for tomorrow. The track had good adherence,
but it was very windy; it slowed me down on the straights
and when entering some curves it pushed you sideways.”
Official Results
MotoGP
1. Casey STONER (DUCATI) 1:35.520
2. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) at 0.032
3. Valentino ROSSI (YAMAHA) at 0.139
4. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) at 0.455
5. Randy DE PUNIET (HONDA) at 0.465
250cc
1. Álvaro BAUTISTA (APRILIA) 1:39.592
2. Marco SIMONCELLI (GILERA) at 0.262
3. Alex DEBÓN (APRILIA) at 0.467
4. Héctor BARBERÁ (APRILIA) at 0.849
5. Thomas LUTHI (APRILIA) at 0.996
12. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL KTM) at 1.981
125cc
1. Scott REDDING (APRILIA) 1:46.291
2. Mike DI MEGLIO (DERBI) at 0.109
3. Stevie BONSEY (APRILIA) at 0.423
4. Nicolás TEROL (DERBY) at 0.454
5. Marc MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL KTM) at 0.572
9. Esteve RABAT (REPSOL KTM) at 0.864
|
