Great performance by Alex Marquez and Alex Rins on second day of practice for the Dutch TT, as they qualify second and sixth, respectively.
Alex Rins and Alex Marquez improved continuously on the second day of action at the historic Assen circuit, where they participated in a final practice session and qualifying for the Dutch TT. Marquez led for virtually the entirety of qualifying –which featured light rain halfway through– but was pipped to pole position by Jack Miller and will start from second tomorrow. One row behind, Alex Rins will take off from sixth despite pain in his left foot.
After continuing to fine-tune the setup of his Honda for the race tomorrow in the third practice session, Marquez and Rins finished sixth and twelfth, respectively. In the fight for pole in the afternoon, both took an important step forward and Marquez held the best time for much of the session: On his fifth lap he set a time of 1’42.356, which only Miller would beat with 2 minutes remaining. In the final stretch of the session, Rins managed to lower his times twice on consecutive laps, setting a final best of 1’42.564. That places him sixth on the grid for round eight of the season, which takes place tomorrow in the only Saturday GP on the Moto3 calendar.
Alex Rins >> Audio
6th, 1:42.564, 32 laps, 145 km
“It was a pretty good session, all things considered. Despite the pain I have in my foot and a small problem with the clutch, I am satisfied with the time that we set because we did it when riding alone. Once again I have to thank my team for the speed with which they fixed my bike, because they had to change a clutch disc in no time at all. They did it perfectly, with enough time to complete the session and improve my best lap”.
Alex Marquez >> Audio
2nd, 1:42.356, 33 laps, 150 km
“It was a little bit of a strange qualifying session due to the weather, because at times the track was a bit wet. The important thing for tomorrow is that we have a good pace, after how much we have struggled. In qualifying we changed the bike a little and took a step forward, and that was important. Starting from second gives us a lot of motivation for tomorrow and I think in the warmup we can still adjust some things that will allow me to ride more comfortably. I’ll try to do well and push as much as I can, but I think that the race could be between a large group. We saw in Barcelona that, even though it is difficult, you can break away, so we must be vigilant at all times”.
