Login | Password dimenticata? | Registrati

Assen, 250: Alvaro Bautista first on day one

In MotoGP

25 giugno 2009

Assen, 250: Alvaro Bautista first on day one

Action at the Dutch TT got underway today, with the 250cc riders able to take advantage of warm sunshine this afternoon. The constant direction changes and the mixture of fast and slow corners make Assen one of the most exciting circuits on the calendar, with the final chicane always capable of deciding races. Despite leaving local shores behind following the last race in Barcelona, Spaniards again dominated proceedings today as Álvaro Bautista and Héctor Barberá headed up the time sheets, separated from each other by just two tenths of a second but from the rest of the field by six tenths.

Mapfre rider Bautista struggled for rear grip on his Aprilia at the start of the session but gradually creeped up the top ten, particularly impressive through T1 and T4. However, his time through T2 and T3 needed some work and four laps from the end he made a breakthrough, launching an attack on top spot and eventually breaking the 1'41 barrier with a time of 1'40.817 to dislodge his compatriot. Bautista's team-mate Mike Di Meglio, quiet but effective as always, made consistent improvements before clocking an excellent time on lap 22 that lifted him to third place.

1st Álvaro Bautista 1.40.817 (27 laps): "To be honest the lap times weren't particularly quick today. We had a problem at the start of the session and the rear of the bike was sliding around a lot - also the engine wasn't working as it should be but as the session progressed we ironed things out. I'm still not completely happy with the rear of my Aprilia because it is not gripping and I can't open the throttle when I want to. So that is mainly what we need to work on tomorrow and I'm convinced we can make big improvements. It's not bad for the first day but we can't afford to go to sleep tomorrow. Barberá and myself are a little ahead of the rest but that doesn't mean anything because the pace will increase tomorrow. In our case we know where we can go faster and that is what we need to do in order for me to have fun on the bike."

3rd Mike Di Meglio 1.41.472 (25 laps): "I'm really happy because I felt comfortable throughout the session. It was very windy but our pace was good - not incredibly fast but good enough for the first day and I'm satisfied. It is good to start out like this, to be up there from the first few minutes and to know that we can get better. I hope we can continue with this evolution tomorrow and consolidate our position amongst the top guys. The test at Valencia worked out well for us because now we have the chassis configuration more or less clear, even though we can refine it more on the second day here."