THE CATHEDRAL OF SPEED CROWNS ALCOBA WITH POLE AND LAP RECORD
#DutchGP qualifying. Jeremy Alcoba’s first pole position in the Moto3 World Championship comes as a relative surprise: despite not having turned wheels at the TT Circuit Assen before, the star of the Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3 has literally turned into a ‘time attack animal’ by claiming five front-row starts out of nine qualifying sessions this year – two thirds, one second and now one pole position.
Today’s pole position has an even sweeter taste because it set a new outright Moto3 record at Assen’s cathedral.
Gabriel Rodrigo is content with his performance – albeit not fully. The Argentine rider – who crashed uninjured this morning at turn two – has suffered from some front-end issues, which limited his performance. A whole session without slipstreams was the other key factor that prevented him from finishing higher than sixth.
POLE POSITION – JEREMY ALCOBA #52 (1’41.194)
“We have tried to claim pole position this year on many occasions and finally we did it. Foggia’s slipstream was a very important factor, but I can say last week I did him a favour (the penalty which granted him the podium finish) and today he returned it. We set the quickest time with the hard tyre, which is excellent news. We know what tyre to use tomorrow in the race and we’re ready, and even though we suffer a little bit on the straight, we will be fighting at the sharp end of the field.”
6th – GABRIEL RODRIGO #2 (1’41.534)
“I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike in this qualifying session, neither with the soft nor the hard tyre option. We struggled with the front-end and despite that we’re on the second row. We must solve this issue with the feeling, because I don’t feel good as in the last races, so we will have to work on that during warm up.”
