Double front row start for Marc Marquez & Dani Pedrosa after erratic weather causes havoc in Assen

After yesterday’s unfamiliar dry conditions in Assen, today the unpredictable Dutch weather arrived. Fortunately both Repsol Honda riders, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, recorded a time yesterday to promote them into this afternoon’s Q2 as this morning’s FP3 session the track wasn’t fully wet – or dry – and neither Marc or Dani set a flying lap.

The weather improved slightly for FP4 and Marc set the fastest ever lap here on two wheels with a time of 1’33.462 (lap 12/15). However, the elements soon rolled in and just as the riders exited pitlane for the start of Q2, the rain arrived.

In an intense first five minutes – of the fifteen minute session – all twelve riders in the shootout competed for the best line, anxious to record a fast time before the track became too wet.

Marc and Dani attacked immediately, passing several riders, and set times fast enough to place them second and third on the grid. All riders returned to the garages but as the track became wetter, the qualifying was decided.

Most riders then utilised the final seven minutes to get a feeling for their bike in the wet, incase tomorrow’s twenty-six lap race serves more of the same.

Marc Marquez – 2nd – 1’40.194
“I’m happy with this front row, although we obviously wanted to take pole! The weather was very unpredictable, as sometimes it was raining and then it stopped – meaning that conditions were far from ideal. My goal was to get onto the front row, so when I saw that I was up into second I decided not to take any more risks; there was a lot to lose and not much to gain, so I kept calm because I had already reached my target”

Dani Pedrosa – 3rd – 1’40.732
“It was a difficult session because the track was half-dry, half-wet, and then it started to rain more heavily. We went out with slick tyres and had time to put in a couple of laps, although there was a lot of traffic and we were all close together. It was hard to know how much of a risk we could take. Finally, with the track half-wet, we managed to set a good time and qualify on the front row which I’m happy with. Tomorrow we will continue working on the bike and try to have a good race, which could be either dry or wet”

Source: Repsol Honda Team