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ALEIX ESPARGARÓ IN THE TOP TEN ON THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE IN ASSEN

25 June 2021

GOOD PRACTICE FOR LORENZO SAVADORI WHO FINISHES IN THE TOP TEN IN THE MORNING AND IS ONE OF THE FASTEST IN THE RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON

The rain that arrived in the first half of the afternoon FP2 session froze the combined standings, giving Aleix Espargaró yet another top-ten position this season.

Aleix had been fast from the morning and finished the first FP1 session seventh with a time of 1’33.993 and the idea was to continue improving in the afternoon, but consistent rain showers hampered the riders during the session, effectively freezing the standings. At that time, Aleix had still not improved on his first time and he was lying tenth, so with this position which, if confirmed tomorrow would send him straight through to Q2, his day came to an end.

The same rain kept Lorenzo Savadori from defending a nice tenth place that he had earned in the first free practice session with a time of 1’34.098. Lorenzo was definitely at ease on a circuit which, unlike many others, he knows well, having raced here in his WSBK years.

Savadori closed out the combined standings with a good thirteenth place but, turning laps in the rain, he was one of the fastest with the fourth best time in wet conditions of 1’44.372.

ALEIX ESPARGARO’
“Overall, things went well today, even though only the first session was really useful. In FP2 I didn’t turn many laps before the rain kept us from continuing our work. In any case, I did my best time with very used tyres and that is always an encouraging signal in view of the race. The grip the new asphalt provides is good. With its aerodynamics, the RS-GP has great stability, but it becomes a bit demanding in the direction changes. I’m curious to see how tomorrow goes. It would be ideal to have stable weather, but here in Assen that is never a given. It is always essential to stay in the top ten. Qualifying well makes the race simpler.”

LORENZO SAVADORI
“The day was definitely positive. This morning we set up our strategy to get into the top ten, given the forecast for rain in the afternoon, and we made it. In the second session, we started with used tyres to work on race pace, thinking that we’d do a time attack later. Instead, a lot of riders went out straight away with a new tyre, dropping the times and bumping me out of the top ten. Then the rain kept us from improving but I still lapped with a good pace in the wet. Assen is a track that I definitely know better than the Sachsenring. I found it rather physical with the MotoGP bike, but I felt pretty good. We need to work especially on the first sector. That’s where I feel like we have the widest margin for improvement.”