Rossi Claims Phenomenal Pole Position at the Cathedral

[totalmotorcycle]

@Rossi Claims Phenomenal Pole Position at the Cathedral


@Movistar @Yamaha #MotoGP #rider Valentino Rossi gave a stunning performance today to claim a perfect pole position for tomorrow's TT Assen, setting a new circuit best lap record. Teammate Jorge Lorenzo had a competitive pace but was pushed down the order in the final stages of the session and qualified on the third row.
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi wasted no time today in the dry Q2 session to put in some incredible hot laps around the TT Circuit Assen, setting a new circuit best lap record of 1'32.627 and securing the 61st pole position of his career.
Teammate Jorge Lorenzo was unable to ride the hot lap he had in mind and will start tomorrow's race from eighth on the grid.
Topping the combined free practice times after FP4, Rossi was determined to drop a hot lap during the 15 minute long time attack. He was the first man to leave pit lane and momentarily took pole before dropping down the order to eighth place. His second attempt didn't gain him any places, but his third hot lap moved him up to fifth.
He hastened back to his pit box for some fresh tyres with seven minutes left on the clock. After a minute he was ready to hit the track once more. The Italian was unable to improve on his next lap, dropping down to eighth in the ranking order, but this only seemed to motivate him even more. Completely focused on getting that all important front row start, he gave it his all on his final push and delivered a brilliant 1'32.627 lap to claim pole. Rossi's stunning pole is 0.835s quicker than the previous circuit best lap record set by Marc Marquez last year.
Teammate Lorenzo also posted some very competitive times, but was unable to keep up his front row qualifying streak of four in a row. He started the Q2 session with an opposite approach to his usual strategy. This time he was the last rider out of the box, to be assured of some clear track space. He briefly took provisional pole with a strong first flying lap of 1'33.146, before being pushed back down to fourth place. On his next lap he improved his time by 0.029s, moving up to third, and quickly returned to the pits for a new set of rubber.
He rejoined the track with a little less than six minutes left on the clock. The Spaniard posted a second fastest time of 1'33.044 on his next hot lap, before being pushed back to fourth. He improved his time by two thousandths of a second on his next lap, leaving him 0.415s from the front, but it was not enough to keep him on the second row. He will start tomorrow's race from eighth on the grid.



Valentino Rossi

1st / 1'32.627 / 9 laps

"Assen is always special for me, because I have great memories here. I have won here in the past and a lot of important races in my career took place at this circuit. I love this track, because it's fantastic. There's already a lot of crowd assembled here today and this is a good moment, because it gives you a special feeling when you get the pole position, especially for me, because it doesn't happen that often. Getting pole position is vital for tomorrow. It was very important that I started the weekend well, beginning with yesterday's first practice session. I felt good with the bike and started with a good basic setting. Today's result is important because I wanted to start more in front, because we always struggle a lot when qualifying on the second and third row."






Jorge Lorenzo

8th / 1'33.042 / 8 laps

"We improved the bike a lot and I'm very happy about this. In free practice four I was very competitive with a used tyre, but unfortunately I couldn't make a very explosive lap during qualifying. I rode four laps that were very similar, but not one was fast enough to be in the first row, so we are going to start from the third row for the first time. We still need to improve in some parts, because we are very fast in T1 and T3, but we were missing something in T2 and T4, especially during qualifying, but our pace is quite good in every sector. The challenge for tomorrow is to make a good start. The race is very long so the most important thing is that there won't be any rain and I think that with some patience we can little by little make our way to the top."




Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
"It was a superb pole position for Vale, something we don't see very often! They have worked hard preparing for the race and have put in a lot of effort to do well in qualifying. Even if Valentino is satisfied about the bike's set up, there are still some little things to improve for the warm up. Jorge improved the feeling with his bike and he has been fast and consistent in all the free practices. Unfortunately the qualifying didn't go as we expected and he has to start from the third row, but I am confident that he will be back at the front for tomorrow. I expect it to be a tough race, but I am certain that we will be key protagonists."