Good vibrations for Repsol riders in Assen.
Sebastián Porto, pole in the 250cc, and Sergio Gadea, third in the 125cc, take a place on the front row of the provisional grid
Sunshine and good temperatures during the first practice day at the legendary TT Circuit in Assen, which is celebrating this weekend its 75th anniversary. The first practice day took place without incidents. At the end of both practice sessions, there were little differences between the leading riders of the classes, as usual in this mythic track. In the premier class, Valentino Rossi in the morning and Loris Capirossi in the afternoon, were the fastest riders of the day.
The changes carried out on some corners of the track were noticeable and there have been several riders in this class – as well as in the 125cc and 250cc – that went off track, but most of them were fortunately only little incidents. For the Repsol Honda Team, good and bad result in this first practice day. Good for North American rider Nicky Hayden, who was fourth fastest in the first free session and sixth in the second, seven tenths from the fastest time set by Capirossi. Hayden and his team dedicated most of the time of both sessions to intensively test countless tyres, looking for the best combination for the race on Saturday. Bad luck was today for Max Biaggi, who suffered again numerous problems with the set-up, finishing in a back twelfth position in the morning and ninth in the afternoon.
In the 250cc, Repsol riders Dani Pedrosa and Sebastián Porto took turns in the lead of both sessions. Pedrosa was fastest in the morning, followed by Barberá and Lorenzo. Porto, focussed in the settings of his Aprilia, was sixth, followed by his teammate De Puniet who had problems with the front suspension of his bike and had to settle for seventh. In the afternoon, during the first qualifying session, the fight for the provisional pole in the last minutes was one of the closest, with Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Barberá, Stoner and Porto among the aspirants.
Finally, in a last masterly lap, the Argentinean rider clinched the provisional pole position ahead of Lorenzo, Stoner and Aoyama. Despite a small inconvenience with a tyre, Dani Pedrosa showed himself satisfied with the development of the qualifying practice, where he finally set the sixth fastest time. Randy De Puniet did not manage to solve his problems with the front end in the afternoon and was set back to the tenth final position. In the minor class, Héctor Faubel closed the group of the top seven, all of them within less than one second, in the first qualifying practice.
Sergio Gadea was the fastest Repsol rider in the morning session with the sixth fastest time. Very active during the first qualifying session, Jorge Martínez Aspar’s pupil set the third fastest time in the afternoon behind Mattia Pasini -provisional pole-, and Mika Kallio. Héctor Faubel, after finishing in a back fifteenth place in the morning’s free practice, managed to recover positions in the afternoon after improving his time by 2.5 seconds, moving up to the seventh place. Joan Olivé, who is back in a circuit where he managed to get on the third step of the podium in 2002, in the same class, was twelfth in the morning and eleventh in the afternoon’s qualifying session.
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden
First free practice 4th, 201.946, 22 laps
Second free practice 6th, 201.490, 22 laps
We made a few changes between sessions and things got better but we still have some way to go. We changed the gear ratios a little and that helped but were definitely not where we want to be at the end of the first day. Were spinning up a lot on the edge of the tyre and losing time. Once we find the edge grip well be in a better position as we have plenty of traction. Well have to sit down with the boys tonight and all pitch in to come up with a plan for tomorrow.
MotoGP. Max Biaggi
First free practice 12th, 203.015, 22 laps
Second free practice 9th, 202.029, 22 laps
Being 9th fastest is disappointing for me. We are in trouble, especially when its time to push harder. Riding like this is not fun even if I always loved this track and I like it also with the two new turns. I really hope to work it out with my team for tomorrows qualifying practice, even if the gap with the fastest guys is consistent. I feel in shape, I believe in my riding stile and Im pushing it to the limit. In other words: I dont surrender.
250 GP. Sebastián Porto
First free practice 6th, 206.888, 18 laps
First qualifying practice 1st, 205.530, 13 laps
The bike went very well and I am very happy because we are back where we should be. We still need to make some small adjustments to the engine, but the changes we have made have worked well. We have gone back to an old set-up and the bike has responded well. The important thing is the race, though, so we will have to wait and see what happens on Saturday, but we have obviously taken a step forward.
250 GP. Dani Pedrosa
First free practice 1st, 206.198, 19 laps
First qualifying practice 6th, 206.200, 16 laps
The weather has been fantastic, I think that it’s been one of the best days I’ve had in the Netherlands so far. We used the morning to make the first contact with the changes of the track and in the afternoon we focussed on the set-up. We’ve basically worked to improve the setting of the chassis. Towards the end of the practice we had a little problem with one of the tyres. The bike skidded a lot, but besides that, I think that we’ve managed to fix some things. Now we only have to wait until Saturday, hoping that the track is in good conditions for the race and that we’ve been able to make good use of the practice sessions.
250 GP. Randy De Puniet
First free practice 7th, 207.193, 23 laps
First qualifying practice 10th, 206.884, 14 laps
I dont know what is happening, this morning we had problems with the front end of the bike. We worked hard to find a solution but this afternoon the times were no better and I did not have much confidence going into corners. We will have to work hard if we are going to find solutions by tomorrow.
125 GP. Sergio Gadea
First free practice 6th, 214.926, 16 laps
First qualifying practice 3rd, 213.170, 12 laps
The session went very well for me, I could tell right from the morning I could go fast and the qualifying showed that. I began with a bad tyre and had to stop to get it changed, but after that I found a good rhythm and when I went back out I got behind Kallio and kept close in behind him. In the end I posted a good time that Im very happy with. We must continue like this and get a good position.
125 GP. Héctor Faubel
First free practice 15th, 215.943, 14 laps
First qualifying practice 7th, 213.459, 11 laps
This circuit is longer than the rest and it took me a while to adapt to it, bearing in mind I have never been here on a 125. It was, though, a good session and I improved my time by 2 and half seconds from this morning. I am sure we will improve and well be ready for the race.
Track conditions
- Weather: Sunny
- Temperature: 33º-34º
- Track temperature: 45º-48º
- Humidity: 11%-12%
- Wind: 4 Km/h
Standings:
125
- M.Passini (Aprilia) 2.12.742
- M.Kallio (KTM) 2.12.745
- S.Gadea (Aprilia) 2.13.170
- M.Simoncelli (Aprilia) 2.13.370
- J.Simon (KTM) 2.13.403
7. H.Faubel (Aprilia) 2.13.459
250
- S.Porto (Aprilia) 2.05.530
- J.Lorenzo (Honda) 2.05.665
- C.Stoner (Aprilia) 2.05.691
- H.Aoyama (Honda) 2.05.906
- A. de Angelis (Aprilia) 2.05.982
- D.Pedrosa (Honda) 2.06.200
10. R. de Puniet (Aprilia) 2.06.884
MotoGP
- L.Capirossi (Ducati) 2.00.757
- V.Rossi (Yamaha) 2.00.840
- S.Gibernau (Honda) 2.01.037
- A.Barros (Honda) 2.01.053
- M.Melandri (Honda) 2.01.242
- N.Hayden (Honda)2.01.490
- M.Biaggi (Honda) 2.02.029
