Espargaro and Smith confident for Dutch TT after opening shake down

The Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Pol Espargaro kick-started his Motul TT Assen challenge by finishing in 11th position on the first day of action at the 8th round of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship. The young Spaniard began confidently by getting into gear immediately and posting a best time of 1’34.927 in FP1 under bright and sunny conditions in the Netherlands which left him in 5th place. In the afternoon session, he got straight back to work and continued his efforts to refine the setup of his Yamaha YZR-M1 for the 26 lap race on Saturday, while setting his best time on lap 14. This time of 1’34.321 equalled 11th at the close of the session, which was just over half a second back from the second row. The 24 year old now sets his sights on making some further steps forward tomorrow morning before focusing on the all important qualifying where he intends to score a solid grid position to launch from in Saturday’s race.

Meanwhile, Bradley Smith concluded the day in 13th after undertaking a thorough effort in setting up his Yamaha to suit the fast flowing nature of the Assen circuit. The young British rider confidently jumped into action and completed FP1 with a best lap of 1’35.042 that resulted in a 6th place finish. As a result, Smith optimistically looked towards FP2 and here, he picked up where he left off by continuing to make the necessary tweaks to his MotoGP bike. At the fall of the chequered flag, he highlighted his dedication by completing a total of 23 laps, more than any other MotoGP rider, and finished with a top time of 1’34.627. The 24 year old rider intends to make further steps forward in FP3 tomorrow ahead of the qualifying battle.

 Pol Espargaro – Position : 11th Time : 1’34.321 Laps : 40 

“We kicked off the Dutch TT in a positive manner after having a good start this morning and managed to set a quick lap at the end of the session which put us near the front of the field. Yet unfortunately this afternoon, things didn’t work out the same way as everybody improved their times, while we had to face a few slight issues which prevented us from posting a really fast single lap. Everything is so close in the times and the guys with the soft tyre have a clear advantage and can easily beat us on one lap. Yet our race pace is really promising and is quite close to the top riders. Now we just have to hope that it won’t rain tomorrow morning so that we can have a good chance of qualifying straight through to QP2. We will see what happens and I will give it my very best.”

Bradley Smith – Position : 13th Time : 1’34.627  Laps : 44 

“Today was quite a good day despite the final position in the combined standings. I am satisfied with the work that we have undertaken and as soon as we got out on track this morning, I felt comfortable straight away. When we tried the hard tyre this afternoon, I was happy with how the bike handled, yet when we put the soft tyre in, the grip wasn’t as good as it should have been because we had a tyre that may have been defected. This limited me and unfortunately was the reason why I wasn’t able to post a strong lap time. Having said that, these things occasionally happen and it’s much better for this to occur today instead of tomorrow as we all know how important the qualifying is. We don’t know what the weather conditions will be like tomorrow so it’s not ideal to be in 13th, but we’ve had a strong pace all day today and I am optimistic for the qualifying. Therefore, we will make a few small adjustments, but overall, I’m feeling confident and I’m looking forward to getting back out on the track.”

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