Record-breaking Pedrosa heads first day of Free Practice

2015-06-25 16:59
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa sets the fastest ever lap MotoGP lap around the TT Circuit Assen to top the opening day combined timesheets.

Pedrosa outshone his rivals to end the first day of Free Practice at the Motul TT Assen on top after setting a blistering record lap of 1’33.450 during FP2, beating his teammate Marc Marquez’s 2014 best (1’33.462) in the process.

Today’s practice sessions took part in surprisingly warm and sunny conditions at the TT Circuit Assen, the only track that has been ever-present in the World Championship calendar since it began in 1949. Track temperatures peaked at 40 degrees Celsius in FP2 and with the forecast for Friday showing a chance of rain, today’s Free Practice sessions took on extra emphasis as riders tried to secure automatic qualification through to Q2. With this in mind, as the clocked ticked down towards the end of FP2, riders headed out on fresh tyres to try and set a flying lap.

Repsol Honda made it a 1-2 on the combined timesheets, as Marquez, who had earlier crashed on his out-lap in FP1, set the second fastest time of the day, just 0.139s behind Pedrosa. Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi (+0.202s), using a new frame which his team debuted last week at a private test at Motorland Aragon, ended the day in third after he had earlier topped FP1 for the first time since Indianapolis last year.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone (+0.249s) was fourth, with Cal Crutchlow (+0.284s) on the CWM LCR Honda the leading Satellite rider in fifth. The man who has won the last four races in a row, Jorge Lorenzo (+0.291s), was in sixth ahead of the second Ducati Team GP15 of Andrea Dovizioso (+0.394s) who ended the day in seventh. Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) made use of the softer option tyre available to him to finish in eighth, ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) and the second GSX-RR of Maverick Viñales who completed the top ten.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith found himself outside of the top ten in 13th, along with Scott Redding (14th) on the Factory spec EG Marc VDS Honda. Stefan Bradl was the leading Open class rider in 15th, while the Aspar Team MotoGP Honda’s of Eugene Laverty, who was using a new swingarm today, and Nicky Hayden finished in 17th and 18th respectively.


Championship leader Zarco off to a flying start in Assen

Moto2™ World Championship leader Johann Zarco sets the pace on Thursday at the Motul TT Assen.

Ajo Motorsport’s Zarco, who leads reigning World Champion Tito Rabat by a commanding 40-points in the standings, set a 1’37.670 to end the first day of Moto2™ Free Practice on top.

That put the Frenchman, who has won twice in 2015 in Argentina and Barcelona, 0.196s ahead of Simone Corsi on the Athina Forward Racing Kalex. Zarco left it until his very last lap of FP2 to set his fastest time of the day, as riders enjoyed the ideal track conditions that greeted them at the TT Circuit Assen for both sessions. Zarco’s time was just over five-tenths slower than the outright lap record at the 4.5km track, set by Marc Marquez (1’37.133) in 2012.

Corsi took advantage of a tow from Rabat to end the day in second, with Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes (+0.208s), who had topped FP1 earlier, rounding out the top three. AGR Team’s Jonas Folger (+0.278s) was fourth, with 2014 Assen Moto3 winner Alex Marquez on the second EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex (+0.482s) impressing in fifth. Federal Oil Gresini Moto2’s Xavier Simeon (+0.490s) finished sixth on the combined timesheets, with Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten), Rabat (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), Alex Rins and Franco Morbidelli completing the top ten.

The only riders to crash throughout the day were Ratthapark Wilairot and wild card Jasper Iwema, who both went down in FP2, but walked away unhurt.


Kent smashes lap record to finish day one on top in Moto3™

Leopard Racing’s Danny Kent sets a new Moto3™ lap record at the TT Circuit Assen to end the first day of practice on top.

Dominant championship leader Kent made the most of ideal conditions in both Moto3™ practice sessions at the Motul TT Assen to finish on top of the combined timesheets with a 1’41.860. The British rider recorded his best time in FP2, and in the process became the first Moto3™ rider to break the 1’42 barrier at the “Cathedral of Speed”, beating Jack Miller’s pole time from last season (1’42.240) by over three tenths of a second.

Kent topped both sessions, as most riders improved their times as the day went on. Kent, who is chasing his fifth win in eight races, finished 0.277s ahead of Sky Racing Team VR46’s Romano Fenati in second. The Estrella Galicia 0,0 duo of Jorge Navarro (+0.426s) and Fabio Quartararo (0.692s) were third and fourth respectively, with Karel Hanika (+0.693s) on the Red Bull KTM Ajo bike in fifth.

Ongetta-Rivacold’s Niccolo Antonelli (+0.753s) was sixth fastest overall, with Efren Vazquez (Leopard Racing), John McPhee (SAXOPRINT RTG), Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completing the top ten.

The Moto3™ field were following new instructions from Race Direction after the issues faced at the Catalan GP with riders going slow on track. Each lap that a rider completes now must be within 107% of their fastest time or they could face an investigation, which could lead to a penalty affecting their grid position for the race.

There were crashes in the morning session for wild card rider Kevin Hanus, Andrea Migno, Tatsuki Suzuki and Matteo Ferrari. In FP2 Livio Loi crashed at turn 1, while Niccolo Antonelli and Karel Hanika also hit the deck, luckily all riders were okay.

Source: MotoGP

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