MotoGP Rider Quotes after Assen Qualifying

Ahead of tomorrow’s 80th Dutch TT race tomorrow we’ve got all the rider quotes from this afternoon’s qualifying session that saw Jorge Lorenzo head the timesheets and take the pole position.
Jorge Lorenzo – 1st“I’m very happy to take my second pole of the season but I feel even more comfortable and confident because I’ve been first in all three practice sessions, despite the other riders pushing hard during qualifying.

I think tomorrow’s race could be interesting and of course I want to try to win, but as always the main goal is to finish and take points.

I will try to escape but if I can’t I will fight for the podium.
We can afford to be very calm because of our lead in the standings but the team and I are still working as hard as we can to keep going at this level; we’re not relaxing.
”Randy de Puniet – 2ndEverything is going in the right direction for us and we completely deserved this second consecutive front row.

I am still the Honda fastest rider and the top privateer rider in the classification so this is not just luck! The guys made an excellent job on the bike and I felt more comfortable in this morning second session.
Then in the afternoon we took another step forward working on suspension set up and the bike was close to perfection.
We have got the pace to run in top five on race tyres but we need to confirm our mapping for the end of the race when the tyres will drop.
Want to thank everybody in the team for their great job”.
Casey Stoner – 3rd“The last set-up we threw in the bike seemed to make quite an improvement.
This morning we were pretty happy with it but this afternoon we never really reached where we wanted to.
We had a small problem with the clutch – we had some air in the hydraulics and it wasn’t working properly so I had to use the full pump of the clutch just to shift back through the gears.
A thing I think we can fix anyway.
I got one qualifying lap in and went to start my second but the bike sounded like it backfired and so I decided to call it quits – it was better to be safe than sorry and to start the race tomorrow fresh.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the race but if we will be able to make some more little steps in the tomorrow’s warm-up we may be not too far off.
”Ben Spies – 4th“It’s my best qualifying session and I’m really happy.
I wanted to get on the second row but I was a little bit worried that I would be at the back of it and for the first corner here I wanted to be in a better position.
I wasn’t sure how much I would get out of the soft tyre, but as soon as we bolted it on I was faster.
We’ve got good pace so we’ll look at the weather conditions and comments but I think both tyres will work.
I’ve got good pace on the hard and soft tyre so we just need to see what Bridgestone’s opinion is.
The soft tyre will be quicker in the beginning so we’ll see but it will be a tough call.
Judging by where I qualified another podium is a realistic target.
Obviously Jorge is a way ahead of me at the front but the fight between third to sixth is pretty close.
I’m in that fight and that could land me on the podium.
But it could easily be a dogfight and I could end up sixth or seventh.
Going into the race though I’m closer than I was with the lap times than Silverstone, so anything is possible.
”Nicky Hayden – 5th“We can’t be too disappointed with fifth place and a second row start after the session we had today.
This morning I had an engine problem in one bike and when I switched to the other one I crashed it.
I wasn’t hurt at all but the bike needed to be rebuilt.
The whole team did an incredible job in just a couple of hours – even Casey’s guys gave us a hand.
They didn’t even have time for lunch but when I came into the garage for qualifying there were two bikes there waiting for me.
I couldn’t get my feeling immediately and the start of the session was tough, but when we got the final tyre in I got my head down under that screen and gave it everything I had.
I went from the 1’36s to a 1’34.
9 in just one lap but we have more work to do before the race tomorrow.
” Andrea Dovizioso – 6th“Tomorrow we will start from the second row which is ok, and with a good start I hope to get away with the leaders.
The gap to the front of five tenths of a second is not too much and we also have a good race pace, although actually I set this lap when I was following Lorenzo.
We have some front end issues that we need to solve and this is what we want to sort out by tomorrow afternoon – otherwise it will be a difficult race.
In fact I’m losing time in T3 and T4, which are the fastest parts of the track, so front end feel is really important here.
However, I’m feeling confident and I think that me and the team can come up with some ideas to improve things for tomorrow”Dani Pedrosa – 7th“This morning we started with some adjustments to the suspension and we went a little harder at the front end.
My fastest lap time was ok this morning but to be honest we didn’t find the solutions we were looking for and we still have some work to do to find the right set-up.
In T1, where we were losing a lot of time yesterday, things have improved a little bit but clearly not enough – and we also have to improve the feeling when I brake because at the moment I can’t push to the maximum.
It’s a similar situation on the soft or the hard option Bridgestones so that choice isn’t made yet for us.
We’ll keep on working this evening and try to make some significant improvements for the race tomorrow”.
Marco Simoncelli – 8th“That´s not bad – I´m happy because we had a few doubts about the bike today but it worked well.
We have found the right solution to establish a better feeling and I can ride with more ease.
My times were good when I was lapping on my own and I managed to put a good rhythm together.
Overall I am happy and conficdent I can have another good race tomorrow.
If I can get a good start then there´s no reason I can´t be fighting for a top five finish.
”Colin Edwards – 9th “We had both bikes set-up quite a bit differently with the front-end geometry and one I didn’t like that much.
But the other bike felt better and I was able to push harder.
It’s even closer to the front-end geometry that Jorge uses than I tried yesterday and it makes it feel like I’m not chasing the front and I can put the front tyre right where I want it.
The set-up is still not perfect and I think the front fork spring is a little bit too hard but we’ll play with that tonight.
To be back down in ninth shows how tough it is in MotoGP this year because I was really riding hard and the bike felt good.
I certainly feel like we’re in better shape than we have been at some other races so I need to get a good start.
I’ve pretty much decided to go with the softer tyre.
I did a mid-35 on the 20th lap of the soft tyre so I’m going to go with that.
The harder tyre doesn’t have the side grip that I want to make the lap time” Aleix Espargarò – 10th ‘Pity for the final position.
After the excellent practice results of yesterday and of this morning I thought of being able to gain a better position.
I’m happy to have been constantly in the top ten.
From these qualifications I have understand that I have a good race pace that I can use during tomorrow’s race.
I like a lot this track, I hope to get a good result.
” Loris Capirossi – 11th“I don’t really know what to say today! We did change the bike a bit to alter the way the weight transfers and this gave us a bit of traction back, but still we are not competitive enough.
It seems if we improve the rear we are losing out on the front.
We just cannot find the best solution and all the guys are working so hard to make things better.
We improved the electronics this afternoon and I am happy that we have made a step there.
We hope that we can make a small step in the morning because we don’t want to start making big changes to the bike now.
We’re still confident we can run higher than the qualifying position and we’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings.
”Álvaro Bautista – 12th“This morning I had some problems with my left arm and I felt quite a lot of pain.
I think it is because this track is very physical and requires a lot more work with my arm.
For this afternoon I took some pain-killers, but it was still very uncomfortable so I tried to take things a bit easier, so I could save myself for the race tomorrow.
We resolved some of the problems we had from yesterday and made some improvements, but we are still not quite there.
I still have some problems changing direction as I feel that the bike is very heavy because I don’t have the strength in my arm.
We still have some small things to try in warm-up to make some small steps to make things better.
I want to start well and stay with a good group and be able to push more as the race goes on.
I hope the pain doesn’t get any worse during the race and I can enjoy it.
I am confident that I can make a good result, but the main thing is to enjoy riding the bike.
” Mika Kallio – 13th “Since yesterday I wasn’t able to find the right feeling with my bike on this circuit.
I reduce by almost a second the time I had yesterday during the opening practice, but it wasn’t enough to gain positions.
During the qualifying my technicians have worked hard to modify my bike and make it as balanced as possible for this circuit.
Tonight they will do other changes that we will try in the warm up.
I am not satisfied for the last races results, tomorrow will be the time for a change.
” Marco Melandri – NC “Today was a day to forget.
It started well because the feeling with the bike was really good and I was ale to put a fast time in on a tyre with a lot of laps on it, so I was happy.
Unfortunately it wasn´t to be and now I have to look ahead to hopefully having a good race at Barcelona.
I went wide coming into the turn at the back of the pits and tried to get onto the tarmac path back onto the track but I couldn´t get on it and as I headed back towards the track I was worried I might hit another rider so I tried to change my line.
Unfortunately I lost the rear on the grass and when I got back onto the tarmac it gripped and threw me into the air.
I knew straight away that my shoulder was out.
”