Johann Zarco executed a highly memorable qualifying performance to seal pole position for the Motul TT Assen. The rapid French rider kicked off the day by storming to 5th in the morning practice, but his FP2 time left him 8th in the combined standings and able to progress through to QP2. Here, he powered onwards as the track began to dry before eventually soaring to a superb lap time in the final moments of the session that placed him at the head of the field.

Meanwhile, Jonas Folger notably clinched his best qualifying result of the year and will bolt from the rear of the second row of the grid after an accomplished display today. The young German progressed through to Q2 courtesy of his FP2 time, which put him in 2nd overall, and in the qualifying shootout, he impressed by surging to a rapid time on his last lap. Tomorrow, he seeks to follow up his strong performance today with a top tier result in the race, which begins at 13:00.



Johann ZARCO - Position: 1st - Time: 1'46.141 - Laps: 8

“Pole position is a great thing and when you see your name on top of the time sheets, it is an awesome feeling. Today it rained for almost the entire day, but in FP4 it was more or less dry, and then suddenly there was a downpour. At this time, I decided to stay out on the track in order to understand the conditions and to collect as much information as possible in order to give me a good chance in the qualifying. Then, in Q2, the track started to dry a little bit and I like this kind of situation so I realised that I could make a difference. I pushed on the last lap, plus I felt strong and in the end, everything went so well. I am happy and I know that I need to use this opportunity tomorrow to try and get a podium, which is my target. I think I am ready for any weather condition because I was solid on Friday in the dry and also in the wet, I feel comfortable. Either way, it should be cold so I can use the soft tyre and that will be beneficial. I said on Thursday that starting from the first two rows is important so that I can fight for the podium, and I will start from pole which is the biggest advantage so let's see what happens.”

Jonas FOLGER - Position: 6th - Time: 1'47.663 - Laps: 8

“I am really happy with this result because, to be honest, I was a little bit nervous about how the qualifying would go. At the beginning of the day, when it was raining, I didn’t feel fully confident on the bike and as a result, when we knew that it would be wet in Q2, I got slightly worried. However, in the end, we made a few adjustments and improved the feeling that I had on the bike. On my last lap, I was set quite a good time that got me into the top six. This is my best qualifying performance so far, which is really positive. It looks like it could be a dry race tomorrow and this is what we are hoping for because I have a good pace in the dry and we have set some encouraging lap times. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter too much about what comes, because I think that we are ready for anything.”