FIRST DAY OF MOTOGP PRACTICE IN ASSEN
After the first two practice sessions in preparation for the GP on Sunday, Aleix Espargaró (13th with 1’34.318 but just a half a second outside the top-5) rediscovers confidence with his RS-GP. This is a clear improvement compared to the last race held in Barcelona which, partly due to the very “tight” rankings, makes him confident for tomorrow when the sessions will be decisive for defining the starting grid order.
Scott Redding finished the two sessions in 22nd position with a time of 1’34.979, improving by almost a full second between the first and second session.
ALEIX ESPARGARO’ “Today I rediscovered positive sensations on my Aprilia – much better than in Barcelona. It is true that we are not high up in the provisional standings, but we are not too far away. I turned a lot of laps, maintaining a good pace. I think that tomorrow we’ll have an excellent chance of improving further and, with a good lap, aiming to go straight through to Q2.”
SCOTT REDDING
“This morning I struggled a bit in terms of stability and tyre combination. The RS-GP moved around a lot. In the afternoon, we were able to improve. I felt good in the saddle and I had fun riding. On the last run, a problem with the transponder kept the electronic settings from working the way they should have, so it wasn’t possible to do a better time. We need to work on making the bike less twitchy. When it moves around it makes it hard to ride and it makes you lose precision.”
