Repsol Honda Team rider tops the qualifying timesheets at Assen for the first time at in the premier class. Pedrosa finishes eighth in Q1.
Marc Márquez led all three sessions on Saturday, and in qualifying took the 75th pole of his career.
This is the first time that the Repsol Honda Team rider has claimed a premier class pole position at Assen.
With today’s result, Márquez now has pole positions at all current MotoGP circuits except Motegi, Japan.
Dani Pedrosa was fourteenth in FP3 and missed out on Q2 by 2 tenths. In FP4 he was fifteenth and in Q1 he was eighth, meaning he will start from eighteenth on the grid.
MARC MÁRQUEZ | 1st 1’32.791
“So far this weekend, things are going better than we were hoping for. The pole has not been one of my strongest points this year, and actually this will be the first time I’ll start form the top spot, because in Austin I earned the pole but was moved back to fourth. I was very happy with the rhythm I could keep in FP3 and FP4 and now I’m even more happy for the Q2 result. We’re trying and working in a good way. At this track stability is one of the main targets to achieve and step by step we improved that a bit. Our first goal is a podium finish but honestly we now have the possibility to fight for the victory. We must remain focused and work well in tomorrow’s warm-up to try and make another little step to improve the stability and to make the final choice for the tyres.”
DANI PEDROSA | 18TH 1’34.125
“Today was very difficult. I missed the passage to Q2 this morning and then in Q1 my pace wasn’t fast enough. In the afternoon I also struggled with the wind. My start position is clearly not good but we must try and stay positive for the race and tomorrow fight to recover. It will be important to make the right tyre choice and then get a good start.”
