Team Suzuki Press Office – June 30.
Alex Rins: 5th – 1:32.933 (+ 0.142)
Andrea Iannone: 9th – 1:33.120 (+ 0.329)
• Alex Rins finds strong pace in afternoon.
• Andrea Iannone caught out by close times.
• New engine spec. proving beneficial.
Hot pace and hot weather was the theme for the second day of action at Assen. The morning’s FP3 session gave a taster of what was to come with the top three riders covered by six thousands of a second, and the top five covered by six hundredths of a second! Andrea Iannone improved on his Friday time and was also quickest in sectors 2&3. Alex Rins found himself bumped out of the Top 10 in the closing moments.
Alex Rins used FP4 to prepare for the Q1 session, this allowed him to put in an excellent performance and a time of 1:33.600 to make it through to the final Q2 session.
The Q2 session was as frenetic as predicted with the Top 10 covered by 0.376.
Alex Rins went top early on, and Andrea Iannone took the provisional pole with 47 seconds left on the clock. But in the final seconds Team SUZUKI ECSTAR’s riders were bumped to 5th and 9th respectively. A second row start for Rins demonstrates the positive improvements he has made over the weekend.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“We’re quite happy about Alex’s result today because he managed very well to come from Q1 into Q2, and then he had a brilliant Q2 with a massive improvement on his lap time, he really did a great job. His race pace is also quite fast, so a good start and staying with the front group will be important tomorrow. Andrea was a bit unlucky in Q2 because he has good speed and is very fast here, but he couldn’t use the first tyre, and on the second tyre he did a very good lap time. But it’s been a really fast qualifying and the times were so close. Tomorrow’s start will be more difficult, we’ll work on his settings to improve his feeling for the race.”
Alex Rins
“I’m really excited about this result, from yesterday we’ve been working really hard on race pace and not really trying to find one fast lap, but finally we got it! In Q1 I was riding alone, trying to get my race pace. And in Q2 I was trying to find the best lines. I’m really happy about this result, and our rhythm for the race is very good, so I just need to make a good start. The stability of the bike has improved.”
Andrea Iannone
“I think we worked well today, we improved from FP2. But we couldn’t find much more than yesterday, and we struggled a little bit with the settings. We need to improve just a little bit more in some areas. But in any case we’re not so far from the other riders. Everybody is really close and the second part of the race will be the most important for us tomorrow. I’m confident about tomorrow but in the other races we have struggled to stay with the top riders as the race goes on. We’ve worked well during the weekend so we’ll try our best and we’ll fight.”
GP of Assen – Qualifying Classification:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’32.791
2. Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL 1’32.832 0.041 / 0.041
3. Valentino ROSSI Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1’32.850 0.059 / 0.018
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1’32.870 0.079 / 0.020
5. Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’32.933 0.142 / 0.063
6. Maverick VIÑALES Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1’32.984 0.193 / 0.051
7. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1’33.029 0.238 / 0.045
8. Johann ZARCO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’33.072 0.281 / 0.043
9. Andrea IANNONE Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’33.120 0.329 / 0.048
10. Jorge LORENZO Ducati Team 1’33.167 0.376 / 0.047
11. Danilo PETRUCCI Alma Pramac Racing 1’33.292 0.501 / 0.125
12. Alvaro BAUTISTA Angel Nieto Team 1’34.015 1.224 / 0.723
13. Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1’33.625 Q1
14. Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing 1’33.666 Q1
15. Hafizh SYAHRIN Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’33.666 Q1
16. Jack MILLER Alma Pramac Racing 1’33.672 Q1
17. Scott REDDING Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1’33.995 Q1
18. Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’34.125 Q1
19. Karel ABRAHAM Angel Nieto Team 1’34.145 Q1
20. Bradley SMITH Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’34.149 Q1
21. Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’34.268 Q1
22. Thomas LUTHI EG 0,0 Marc VDS 1’35.192 Q1
23. Xavier SIMEON Reale Avintia Racing 1’35.646 Q1
24. Franco MORBIDELLI EG 0,0 Marc VDS DNQ
