This time in the Aprilia camp it was Sam Lowes with a smile on his face, having gone through to Q2 for the first time in Assen. The result is the fruit of good performance in the first qualifying session, where Sam took an excellent second place with 1’47.191 that sent him through to the second session where he competed for the best 12 spots on the grid. In Q2 the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini English rider put a time of 1’48.128 on the sheets which gave him a nice tenth place on the grid, the best of his MotoGP rookie year. This means that he will start from the best spot on the fourth row.

Aleix Espargaró proved to be fast in free practice, but the wet conditions in FP3 on Saturday kept him from making it through to Q2. In Q1, also a wet session, he did his best lap at 1’47.277. This is a time that earned him the 15th spot on the grid on the fifth row. The forecast for tomorrow, uncertain as they always are at Assen, do not rule out a dry race and the pace Aleix demonstrated on Friday make him a candidate for a comeback race, on the hunt for the best positions.


ALEIX ESPARGARO' 

"This morning in the wet I felt good. I finished the session in seventh place with good sensations. In the afternoon I did not find the same feeling. There was less grip and the conditions were really demanding. Despite this, I missed Q2 by a hair, less than one tenth. Obviously our race tomorrow will be more complicated because of our starting position, but I think that on a dry track we will be able to do well."

SAM LOWES 

"Yesterday in the dry I was already rather fast and today in the wet I found a good feeling straight away. I have not ridden the RS-GP much in these conditions, but everything works well. The qualifiers could have gone even better. In any case, tenth place shows our progress and it is a good starting place on which to build a solid race. To be honest, I would prefer a race on dry asphalt, but I am confident in any case. The top-10 could be a realistic goal tomorrow."