Photography by Gold & Goose
Coming into this weekend’s Dutch TT, MotoGP World Championship leader Valentino Rossi said he had to have better qualifying performances in order to have a chance to hold off his surging MoviStar Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Rossi did what he set out to do Friday, by winning the pole for Saturday’s Dutch TT at Assen. In addition to winning his first pole of the season, Rossi also set a new track record on the 2.82-mile Circuit TT Assen, with a time of 1:32.627.
Starting alongside Rossi will be Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro and defending world champ Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda.
Aleix Espargaro became the first rider to drop into the 1:32.858 aboard his factory Suzuki, but it wouldn’t hold. With a minute to go Rossi popped the cork on his factory Yamaha and clocked a 1:32.627. The yellow Rossi flags began waving in the stands. The Hondas of Pedrosa and Marquez both made a last ditch effort to better Rossi’s time, but they couldn’t do it. Rossi was on the pole, much to the delight of the massive crowd on hand Friday.
For Rossi it marked his 51st-career MotoGP pole, his first since Valencia last year.
Honda’s Dani Pedrosa heads up the second row with Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro and Ducati’s Andrea Iannone.
American Nicky Hayden will start near the back of the field in 22nd on his Aspar Honda. It marks a low point at Assen for Hayden, who was 1.6-seconds off Rossi’s pace. Hayden won this race in 2006.
Only 6-10ths of a second separated the 12 riders in Q2.
Rossi said the key was getting up to speed early in the weekend.
“Yes I think it is very important to start well,” Rossi explained. “I started well from yesterday from the first practice. I felt good with the bike and started with a good base setting. Today was important because I want to try to start more in front because we are always coming from behind starting from the second row. Making pole position is always special and especially since it’s so important for the race tomorrow.”
Espargaro again turned in an exceptional qualifying performance utilizing the softer tire his Suzuki is allowed.
“The last lap was unbelievable,” Espargaro said. “I pushed to the complete limit in every corner and almost crashed in every hard brake, but you can see how difficult it is, how high the level in MotoGP. I almost did the pole position, but I had to go through Q1. This means the level here is unbelievable, you cannot any mistake in any session. I’m happy because we improved a lot the bike. Yesterday I was struggling, not being able to be in the top 10. Today in FP4 we did a great job with pace and P2 for tomorrow is fantastic.”
Marquez was working with different setups and even a different chassis on his Honda this weekend, and was able to find the front row. He seemed satisfied with that.
“I’m happy with this front row because it was a long time ago that I was not on the front row,” Marquez said. “But anyway we can be happy because before we come here we expect Yamaha would be very strong. And OK, honestly they are a little bit stronger than us, but we are close. Tomorrow we will work hard. I think it will be a hard race, especially with Valentino – his pace is unbelievable. Also Lorenzo maybe follow us and will be strong. It will be difficult, but we will try to finish on the podium.”
The Dutch TT from Assen will be broadcast live nationally on Fox Sports 1 starting at 7:30 am Eastern.
MotoGP Qualifying for the Dutch TT at Assen – June 26, 2015
|
Pos. |
Num. |
Rider |
Nation |
Team |
Bike |
Km/h |
Time |
Gap 1st/Prev. |
1 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 313.0 1’32.627
2 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 300.5 1’32.858 0.231 / 0.231
3 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 314.5 1’32.886 0.259 / 0.028
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 314.2 1’32.987 0.360 / 0.101
5 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 311.2 1’33.013 0.386 / 0.026
6 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 315.8 1’33.016 0.389 / 0.003
7 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR CWM LCR Honda Honda 311.8 1’33.028 0.401 / 0.012
8 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 308.3 1’33.042 0.415 / 0.014
9 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 304.4 1’33.076 0.449 / 0.034
10 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 317.9 1’33.112 0.485 / 0.036
11 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 308.9 1’33.126 0.499 / 0.014
12 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 311.8 1’33.236 0.609 / 0.110
13 6 Stefan BRADL GER Athinà Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 305.3 1’33.789 0.409 / 0.286
14 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 304.5 1’33.875 0.495 / 0.086
15 76 Loris BAZ FRA Athinà Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 301.0 1’33.999 0.619 / 0.124
16 45 Scott REDDING GBR EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 302.6 1’34.071 0.691 / 0.072
17 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 312.7 1’34.223 0.843 / 0.152
18 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 306.0 1’34.289 0.909 / 0.066
19 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 301.5 1’34.428 1.048 / 0.139
20 43 Jack MILLER AUS CWM LCR Honda Honda 302.6 1’34.645 1.265 / 0.217
21 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 303.3 1’34.736 1.356 / 0.091
22 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 300.7 1’34.972 1.592 / 0.236
23 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 293.3 1’35.189 1.809 / 0.217
24 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 302.6 1’36.376 2.996 / 1.187
