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.
Dani Pedrosa 1’35.552 sec, 46 laps, 210 Km. >> Audio
“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 sec, 43 laps, 196 Km. >> Audio
“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”.
Julián Simón, 1’40.686 secs, 44 laps, 200 Km. >> Audio
“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”.
Esteve Rabat, 1’46.700 secs, 30 laps, 137 Km. >> Audio
“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. >> Audio
“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”.
