MotoGP Update – Rossi on Pole for Dutch GP

Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi has secured pole for the Dutch Grand Prix on Assen’s qualifying TT circuit. His qualifying performance is Rossi’s best of the year, coming in the seventh meeting. Using a medium compound front Bridgestone slick and a soft compound rear he finished 0.085 seconds ahead of Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and 0.368 seconds clear of teammate Jorge Lorenzo, both of whom also used medium compound front and soft compound rear Bridgestone slicks, making it the closest MotoGP qualifying session since Bridgestone became the series’ Official Tyre Supplier. At one point towards the end of the session, the top five were split by only 0.100 seconds, and a frantic final few minutes changed the order of the front two rows.

Bridgestone says that it has come to be expected this season that most riders set their fastest qualifying times using the harder option front tyre and the softer rear slick. This combination, says the supplier, gives the advantage of improved front stability, especially under braking, and added rear traction which is important for drive out of turn five and the last chicane in particular. Rossi’s pole lap was 0.7 seconds faster than the fastest race lap set around Assen on a MotoGP machine, a 1m 36.738 recorded by Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner on Bridgestone tyres last year.

So far both practice sessions and qualifying for the Dutch GP have been run in the dry. The forecast likelihood of rain on race day tomorrow means that riders may be faced with a wet race having had no wet running this weekend.

Tohru Ubukata, Bridgestone Motorsport manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development said, “The top four riders were all able to set times faster than the previous race lap record today on our medium compound front and soft compound rear tyres so I am happy with the performance steps we have taken this year as the sole supplier to MotoGP. It shows we have been able to combine good overall performance with consistency and durability, so I am happy with this result.

“Jorge completed a long run of 20 laps on medium compound front and rear slicks at the start of the session and was able to lap consistently. His fastest time of that run came on his penultimate lap, so this demonstrates good durability of our tyres at this circuit. If the conditions do remain the same tomorrow, I expect most riders to choose the medium compound for front and rear. We have also seen today that our medium compound front slick is still the favoured option when the track temperature is ten degrees cooler than it was yesterday, showing its wide operating range.”