Repsol Honda trio struggles but Casey Stoner in first row for Assen Grand Prix – MotoGP news
Repsol Honda riders, Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Hiroshi Aoyama all suffered crashes in the qualifying practice session of the Assen Grand Prix on Friday.
However, Stoner was able to manage a position in the first row of the race to be held on Saturday, June 25, 2011.
Stoner said, “We're struggling with the left hand side of the tyre, we just can't seem to get the temperature in to it, and so I'm losing a lot of time on all the left hand corners.”
The Aussie rider has been disappointed after the crash. Stoner was pushing hard to get a good position for the race day. The FP1 was interrupted by rain so the only dry practice time was availed in FP2. The team had to struggle for testing every bit in a
specific time limit.
The bike was lacking rear grip and they might try to improve that in the warm up session on Saturday. In Stoner’s opinion, Marco Simoncelli has done well throughout the weekend and his fast pace was impressive.
Repsol Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso said, “I crashed exiting turn 9 on the second lap as there was a wet spot next to the white strip that you cannot see when you enter the corner also, and the tyre on the left was not up to temperature yet.”
After the crash, Dovizioso was called in for a medical check-up and he was cleared with no injury. He still feels pain in his back and neck. He and his team are looking forward to make some changes in the bike for the warm up session. The Italian rider will
start the race cautiously for initial laps in order to properly heat the tyres.
Repsol Honda rider, Hiroshi Aoyama said, “I saw Casey and Andrea falling in a left hand corner and I immediately thought I had to be careful because here it's very difficult to get grip in left corners.”
Aoyama is struggling hard to keep the Repsol Honda RCV up to the pace as his teammates are. Let’s see how the situation unfolds in Netherlands on Saturday.
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