Pol Espargaro to launch from head of the third row in Assen

Pol Espargaro undertook an impressive qualifying campaign at the Cathedral of Speed and will kick off tomorrow’s highly anticipated race from 7th on the grid. The young Spaniard began the day by completing the morning practice in 12th after suffering a fall midway through the session, which prevented him from progressing to Q2, which he missed by only 0.073 of a second. However, rain fell just before FP4 where Espargaro battled onwards then, in QP1, he launched into action and notably finished first to progress through to qualifying 2. Here, he continued his efforts and after topping the time sheets early in the session, the Spanish rider pushed further and cut his time again, before completing the shootout in 7th by the time the chequered flag fell. Now the 25 year old keenly awaits the GP tomorrow where he aims to seal the top independent rider honours.

Pol Espargaro – Position: 7th – Time: 1’46.997 – Laps: 8
“To end up in seventh position in what was definitely one of the most difficult days I have experienced in MotoGP, is something that we have to be pleased with. Today was about being smart on the bike which I had to work a lot on and I also had to be super smooth plus not make any mistakes. The fact that we had to go through QP1 was an extra tricky task because with these conditions you can’t predict how things will turn out. The bike was sliding so much in FP1 but I didn’t ride on the absolute limit until the last minute as I didn’t want to crash. Instead, in the final qualifying I pushed one lap too early and on the last one I had Vinales in front who hindered me a bit so I couldn’t improve the lap time further. It’s a pity but considering how the day started, we have to be very satisfied with our position. For tomorrow I really hope we will have a dry race, as our pace seemed to be strong and consistent. If the conditions are wet I think it will be a real lottery, just like at the beginning of the season, as we could see today how easy it is to crash out because of a minor mistake. However, we will do our best and fight until the chequered flag.”

Source – Tech3