Here’s a recap of what several MotoGP riders had to say after today’s free practice at the historic Assen circuit.
Randy De Puniet -1st 1’37.
842“It has been a big surprise for me! In the beginning of the session I was not pretty comfortable as I started on soft tyre and my front feeling was very bad: I had some movements and could not lap as I would like.
Unfortunately the second bike set up was almost the same so we decided to go out on a harder front tyre.
The feeling was much better but I made some small mistakes.
I knew that my rhythm on this track could be faster and so I went back to the garage to swap on to the no.
1 bike which was set–up like the test in Barcelona.
Thanks to some quick adjustments on the chassis geometry and suspension regulations I finally set the pace in the last 5 laps and this makes me very happy.
However it is all very close up to the top so I need to stay focused”.
Valentino Rossi – 2nd 1′37.
847 “I’m happy about today’s practice because I was fast from the start and I could ride the bike how I want.
This is very important because it means that the modifications we made in Barcelona are working here too, even though this is a different type of track.
Now we have one or two small things to fix in order to improve our overall performance and lap time further.
Anyway, we’re there, second by just a tiny bit and feeling good.
It seems there is a doubt for the weather on Saturday which is a pity; of course I hope it’s dry but if it’s going to be a wet race then I hope we have the chance for one or two wet laps before the race in warm-up otherwise it will be quite hard.
” Casey Stoner – 3rd 1’37.
877“This afternoon went really well for us and we’ve started off where we left off in Catalunya, which is a great sign.
Generally with this bike we’ve had to make a lot of changes from track to track and we usually have to spend the first session working really hard to adapt the set-up, but on this occasion it feels good out of the box.
We tried a couple of things during the session but once we got onto the harder front tyre it all clicked into place and we could have gone a lot faster but I got held up on a couple of laps and then on my last lap I pushed the front a bit too hard and ran wide.
We still have some improvements to make but generally speaking it is very positive to start out on the pace – especially at such a windy circuit, because usually we struggle in the wind.
”Jorge Lorenzo – 4th 1′38.
061 “Today wasn’t perfect but we were still quite fast and I am happy enough.
It hasn’t been like Barcelona but anyway all the top riders are very close and we are only two tenths behind the lead.
I expect tomorrow, with the riders all close like this, times will get even quicker so we need to check a few things and make some small improvements to our setting.
Everyone seems to be expecting another race like we had in Barcelona but I don’t think this is something that can happen every time! We just have to keep focused and do our best, and hopefully keep our target of getting on the podium again on Saturday.
”Andrea Dovizioso – 5th 1′38.
092“The final result from the session was pretty reasonable – 5th place and two tenths from the front is a decent start.
We’ll be looking to make some more improvements tomorrow though because I’m not totally satisfied with how the practice went and we struggled a little to find a good feeling with the bike, in particular under braking and on corner entry.
Now we’ll analyse the data and come up with a plan for tomorrow, possibly working with the weight distribution to improve the set-up.
It was actually quite a difficult practice session for me because I wasn’t feeling too well, so I’ll get checked out at the Clinica Mobile and be ready for tomorrow.
”Dani Pedrosa – 6th 1′38.
194“Riding felt much better today than it did at the last race in Barcelona which is a positive sign.
Even without any painkilling injection I was able to ride with quite a good pace this afternoon so I’m very happy about that.
Now, after riding, it doesn’t feel great and I have some pain, but that’s to be expected.
With some ice on it and some rest tonight, I’m expecting to feel in good shape for tomorrow’s sessions.
The feeling with the new chassis is good and I immediately felt much more comfortable than in Barcelona.
I still need to learn more about the new chassis, but the initial feeling is positive, with improvements under braking and stability.
Obviously, I need to do more laps to better understand its performance so we’ll continue with that tomorrow.
”Colin Edwards – 7th 1′38.
205 “It was a reasonable day without being spectacular.
I’ve gone back to a longer wheelbase setting I haven’t run since winter testing and it’s similar to what Valentino (Rossi) and Jorge (Lorenzo) have been running.
There are some advantages and some disadvantages but I’ve still got a small issue on the front like I had during the last race in Catalunya.
I’m not able to turn into the corner as quickly as I’d like, and it feels like I’m waiting on the front before I can go through the corner.
But the longer wheelbase has made it probably the best bike I’ve ever been on for the last part of this track.
It’s so stable in the fast sections and I’m able to make up a lot of time, so there’s some good and some bad with it.
We’ve just got to make some adjustments to make the bike turn a bit better and I feel confident that I can be pushing for another podium here.
I love this track and have had some good results and would love to give Monster Yamaha Tech 3 a rostrum for all the h ard work everybody is putting in.
That would be a massive confidence boost for me too with Laguna Seca coming up.
” Chris Vermeulen – 8th 1′38.
350“It’s been great weather at Assen for the first day of practice and it gave us a good whole hour in which we could get a lot of work done.
The conditions were very consistent for the session and it gave us a good opportunity to get the bike working.
We tried different geometry settings between both bikes and definitely found a good direction to head with that.
The mechanics worked really hard to find the best set-up today and we also tried both types of tyre – front and rear – so we know what is also working well there.
We have some ideas to help the bike work well tomorrow and hopefully it will be another dry day and we’ll be able to go even quicker.
”James Toseland – 9th 1.
38.
379 “It was good today and I enjoyed it out there.
I know this track very well and that makes a massive difference when you come to a familiar track.
All my knowledge of this place means I’m not thinking about where I need to be and I can just concentrate on the bike.
I’m not too worried about being in ninth because the times are so close and I’m only half-a-second off first.
I’m just pleased that I’m close to the front on the first day rather than being 1.
1 or 1.
2s off.
My bike was a lot different today and we’ve moved more weight to the back.
My bike has been set-up for a lot of grip, but as soon as the race tyre started to wear, I struggled and it’s amazing how sensitive these bikes are to weight.
We’ve gone a lot softer on the rear spring to get more load on the rear and I’ve got the grip and the drive now.
I’d like to thank Mr Nakajima from Yamaha.
I had a meeting with him on Sunday night in Barcelona and he has been in my garage all through that session giving me some help and I really appreciate his effort.
This new setting feels quite a bit different because we’ve changed footpeg and handlebar position too, and while it doesn’t feel as comfortable as my old setting, I’m definitely going round the track quicker and that’s the main thing.
” Loris Capirossi – 10th 1′38.
429“This first practice has been quite good for us today because I didn’t have a lot of information from last year as I only did one session, so it felt quite new for me here on a Suzuki.
The bike was working well and we only changed a few things during the practice.
I did the whole session with one front tyre and at the end when I tried to push a bit harder it started to move a bit more, but it still felt good so I’m happy with that.
Overall it has been a good first day and now I want to get straight back on the bike and make things even better!”Alex De Angelis -11th 1’38.
495“We did a good job at the Barcelona test and we have carried some of the positive things through to here.
It’s nice to be just six tenths of a second from the top because it’s the first time we’ve managed to be so close all season and it shows we’re moving in the right direction.
We still have a couple of little problems to fix but I was fast on a hard tyre as well today and that is encouraging.
We have some ideas to try tomorrow, particularly in the first sector which is where I am losing most time at the moment, but I am positive because we are on the pace and still have room for improvement.
”Nicky Hayden – 12th 1’38.
928“We had some different ideas to try here with the electronics and we ran them at the beginning of the session but I didn’t like them, so we went back to something similar to what we had in Barcelona, which enabled us to move up a bit.
The gap to the front is closer than it’s been at other tracks but unfortunately a second around here is a lot of time and our position is not much of an improvement.
There are some parts of the track that are pretty good and other sections where I’m kind of in between gears so we obviously need to look at the transmission tonight and put it all together a little better for tomorrow.
We’ve got a lot of work to do but we’re used to that! I’m running the number 22 on my helmet this weekend for a close friend of our family back in America, Nick Cummins, who got hurt in a dirt-track event recently.
His Dad used to sponsor me when I was younger and I just want him and his family to know that we’re with them and thinking about them, hoping things come right.
”Mika Kallio –13th 1″39.
464“It’s not fair this way.
In the first day of work in every race we start too behind compared to the riders that have already ridden in MotoGP on that track the year before.
If we would have two hours at our disposal, like last season, things would be different, but we must take it the way it is.
It seems simple but it’s not easy to find the best lines to follow at each track.
I don’t want to be polemical but I wanted to make it clear: our potential, as we demonstrated in other occasions, is much better than the thirteenth place.
Anyway compare to other first days of free practice things have gotten better and this gives us a lot of trust.
In addition I missed the possibility of another lap for a couple of seconds otherwise I am convinced that we could have already improved our best lap time.
”Toni Elias – 15th 1’39.
642 “This has been a bad day for us.
I don’t have any feeling on the front on the way into the corners and not enough rear traction on the way out.
It has been the same story at every track we’ve been to.
If there is a silver lining it’s that we have had bad first days at other circuits and been able to turn it around with a lot of hard work, so that is exactly what we intend to try and do tomorrow.
Hopefully we can work something out and at least get more or less closer to where we should be.
”Niccolò Canepa –18th 1’41.
020“As soon as I concluded free practice I went to the mobile clinic because I had a lot of pain at my back.
It’s been a couple of days that I have backache, but I am sure that this will not compromise my performances on track.
Today we didn’t start in the best way due to some technical problems that didn’t allow us to do what we have planned in the first half of the session.
We have to understand what happened to be at the best in the next two days of work.
We have tried to solve the problems in the last minutes but at that time there weren’t so much time left.
”
