Espargaro off to a flying start at Assen

Perfect weather today in Assen, with about 27 air degrees and 44 on the asphalt. The Pramac Racing Team riders, Mika Kallio and Aleix Espargaro, started very well finishing in seventh and fourteenth place respectively. Since the first rounds the Catalan rider, Aleix, has proven to be very competitive on the Assen track and finished among the fastest, despite a brake problem that saw him lose a bit of time. After the first half of the session, Aleix was in the fifth place just five milliseconds from the fourth position occupied by Dovizioso. The two tenth of a second that are separating the Spaniard from the third position, are a proof that Aleix likes this track and that he can confirm the good results achieved here in the past.

Marco Rigamonti – Aleix Espargarò Track Engineer
“Aleix continues to confirm his good period, this seventh position give us good hopes for the Saturday’s race. Even outside the track we saw that Aleix was ready and determined to have a good performance. Tomorrow, with these track conditions, we can make good qualifications. There remains only a small change to try: Aleix feels the bike too heavy when he changes direction quickly. With a little modification we will try to improve the perfect set up for the bike so that we can be even faster.”

Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing Team – 7th fastest lap time in 1’35.927
“This bike is wonderful! It ‘s my favorite track and I think that anyone can see how much I enjoy the track. Despite the many changes in the last years it remains very attractive, you need a lot of aggressiveness and then you can be very fast. The lap times are not very important today, tomorrow everyone will forget what I have done today, but being in the seventh potion it is definitely a good first step. Tonight we will analyze the data with my engineers to understand where and how to further improve tomorrow. I have some problems in the fast changes of trajectory, but I’m very confident for tomorrow.”

Source: Pramac Racing