Repsol Honda rider takes front row start in Assen, despite fractures to finger and toe. Pedrosa falls in Q2 but will begin race from fifth.
Like yesterday, crashes featured heavily on the second day of action at Assen, as the grid for tomorrow’s race was decided. Marc Marquez will start from second after suffering a big crash in the final free practice session, picking up small fractures in the little finger of his right hand and the big toe of his right foot. Teammate Dani Pedrosa also had an off, and will line up fifth for the Dutch TT.
The slippery asphalt of the Assen circuit again made riding tricky. In the third practice session, Marquez was thrown from his Honda machine at Turn 14, injuring himself in the process. After a trip to the Mobile Clinic, he was diagnosed with a broken little finger on his right hand and a fractured big toe on his right foot.
Despite the painful nature of the injuries, they did not prevent him from shining in qualifying. Pedrosa had his turn to crash in the afternoon run, losing the front end on Turn 9 and lowsiding. He would miss the final six minutes of the session leaving his best time at 1:35:006. Rossi and Bradl lowered their lap times soon after, but were finally ousted by Marquez and Cal Crutchlow as they battled for pole in the final seconds. It was the latter who took the top spot, for a race which begins tomorrow at 3pm.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
FP3 – 1:47.055, 12 laps, 55 km.
QP – 1:35.006, 4 laps, 18 km.
“We haven’t had any sessions that have really been good for putting in laps and trying out things with the bike. The conditions of the track and the weather haven’t really allowed us to improve the setup, because we’ve had very few laps on a completely dry track. However, in qualifying we were able to run a faster pace than in the rest of the practice sessions here. Despite the crash, the feeling is a lot better than it was yesterday. So, we will see if tomorrow we can get a good start and have a strong race.”
Marc Marquez >> Audio
FP3 – 1:46.761, 13 laps, 59 km.
QP – 1:34.755, 9 laps, 41 km.
“The session went pretty well. It was very important that we took part in qualifying and got this position on the grid, as before FP4 we did not expect to get a spot on the front row. We were certainly not expecting second, because the pain in my finger was really affecting me. When I put my glove on it hurt a lot, as did my back -my foot wasn’t as bad, fortunately. I tried to stay focused on the bike, despite the bruises, and we managed to get a good time. Today we were able to ride a hot lap, tomorrow we will have to see how we manage over 26 laps. The weather will also be a very important factor, because here it has been constantly changing this weekend.”
