Lorenzo claims Assen pole

From motogp.com

Jorge Lorenzo continued to tighten the grip he is developing on proceedings at the TIM TT Assen by taking pole position for Saturday’s race, having topped both practice sessions in the lead up to qualifying.

The Fiat Yamaha rider secured his second consecutive pole with a best lap of 1:34.515 on Friday, taking over two-tenths off his best time from the two free sessions.

"I'm very happy to take my second pole of the season but I feel even more comfortable and confident because I've been first in all three practice sessions, despite the other riders pushing hard during qualifying,” said Lorenzo after achieving his 11th premier class pole.

“I think tomorrow's race could be interesting and of course I want to try to win, but as always the main goal is to finish and take points. I will try to escape but if I can't I will fight for the podium.”

The 37-point Championship lead Lorenzo holds over nearest rival Andrea Dovizioso means the 23-year-old is not feeling too much pressure, but his professional approach means he will not be taking it easy at any stage of the race.

“We can afford to be very calm because of our lead in the standings but the team and I are still working as hard as we can to keep going at this level; we're not relaxing,” he concluded.

Randy de Puniet became the second rider of the weekend to get under 1:35 when he briefly took the lead in the session with 20 minutes remaining, and the LCR Honda rider will start from second position on the grid for the second straight race after a fantastic session left him 0.282 secs. off Lorenzo’s pace.

De Puniet had waited three years for a front row grid position when he started from second spot last weekend at Silverstone, and now the Frenchman has secured two in the space of two races.

“Everything is going in the right direction for us and we thoroughly deserve this second consecutive front row,” said De Puniet. “I am still the fastest Honda rider and the top privateer in the classification, so this is not just luck.

“The guys did an excellent job on the bike and I felt more comfortable in this morning’s second practice session. Then in the afternoon we took another step forward, working on suspension set-up, and the bike was close to perfection.”

With a highest finish of sixth having been achieved three times already, De Puniet believes he can now push for one spot higher at Assen.

“We have got the pace to run in the top five on race tires but we need to confirm our mapping for the end of the race, when the tyres will drop,” he added. “I want to thank everybody in the team for doing such a great job.”

Ducati Team rider Casey Stoner put in a last lap of 1:34.803 – just six-thousandths behind De Puniet – to ensure he will start his bid for a first podium of the season from the front row.

Having found only minor improvements on day one the Australian and his crew worked hard throughout Friday’s practice session prior to qualification, and Stoner was pleased with how the set-up of Demosedici GP10 had progressed.

“The last set-up we threw in the bike seemed to make quite an improvement,” he said. “This morning we were pretty happy with it but this afternoon we never really reached where we wanted to. We had a small problem with the clutch – we had some air in the hydraulics and it wasn’t working properly so I had to use the full pump of the clutch just to shift back through the gears. A thing I think we can fix anyway.”

Stoner opted to end his qualification session two minutes early after hearing a loud noise from his bike, which only turned out to be a misfire from the engine.

“I got one qualifying lap in and went to start my second but the bike sounded like it backfired and so I decided to call it quits – it was better to be safe than sorry and to start the race tomorrow fresh,” he explained. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the race but if we will be able to make some more little steps in the tomorrow's warm-up we may be not too far off.”

The Australian was followed by rookie Ben Spies as the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider continued to impress, setting the fourth fastest time to ensure he will start from the second row after his first podium finish last time out.

Joining the American in taking over half a second off his best time of the weekend was Nicky Hayden, as the Ducati Team man registered the fifth best time and was the final rider under 1:35.

Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso will complete the second row after timing in at just 0.016 secs. further back. His team-mate Dani Pedrosa was seventh in the order and will start from the third row.

Completing the top 10 for the session were Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing).

Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) was absent after his earlier crash in the second practice session, when a highside resulted in a dislocated shoulder that prevented his participation in qualifying, and most likely Saturday’s race as well.

Andrea Iannone will start the Moto2 TIM TT Assen in pole position after setting the fastest time, as he had done in the two practice sessions leading up to Friday’s qualification. The Italian of the Fimmco Speed Up team, who secured victory at Mugello from pole in round four, set a fast lap of 1:39.092 on Friday afternoon.

Second in the session was Ratthapark Wilairot, whose 16th and final lap of the session pushed him to within 0.215 secs. of Iannone and gave the Thai Honda PTT Singha-SAG his best ever starting grid position.

Also on the provisional front row was Alex Debón (Aeroport de Castelló-Ajo) who set his best time on only his third lap, although that proved to be his final turn of the circuit as the Spaniard then had a crash which resulted in a suspected fractured right collarbone, an injury which has placed his participation in the race in doubt.

Technomag-CIP rider Shoya Tomizawa completed the front row with the fourth fastest time of the session.

Marc Márquez will go for his third straight victory from pole position in the 125cc TIM TT Assen on Saturday after setting a scorching pace in qualifying. The Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider’s lap of 1:42.191 was well clear of second placed Bradley Smith, who in second place was 0.584 secs. further back.

MotoGP Qualifying Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 1:34.515
2. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda 1:34.797
3. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati 1:34.803
4. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:34.926
5. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati 1:34.999
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda 1:35.015
7. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 1:35.162
8. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:35.283
9. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:35.393
10. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati 1:35.593
11. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki 1:35.664
12. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki 1:36.344
13. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati 1:36.502
14. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 1:36.569
15. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (JPN) Interwetten Honda 1:38.198
Did Not Start
Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda