2014 Assen MotoGP FP2: Aleix Espargaro Sets Record Pace

Submitted by Jacob Leech on Thu, 2014-06-26 13:06

Aleix Espargaro has posted the fastest ever lap time by a motorcycle rider at the Assen circuit and topped MotoGP FP2 under glorious sunny conditions. The Forward Racing rider extracted every inch of performance from his super-soft tyre to set a time of 1:33.653, which was just under a tenth quicker than Casey Stoner's long standing circuit record and put him two tenths clear of Marc Marquez in second place.

Fellow Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa was a further two tenths behind in third followed by Jorge Lorenzo and another beneficiary of super-soft rubber Andrea Iannone. Bradley Smith and Valentino Rossi set identical lap times ahead of morning pace setter Pol Espargaro who made it five Yamaha's in the top eight while Stefan Bradl and Andrea Dovizioso completed the top ten.

The make-up of the top ten could prove crucial if tomorrow's forecast rain appears as the quickest times from this session could end up being used to determine the automatic Q2 participants.

Full Results:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Bike	Time	Diff	Diff Prev
1	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	Forward Yamaha	1'33.653
2	93	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	1'33.864	0.211	0.211
3	26	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	1'34.069	0.416	0.205
4	99	Jorge LORENZO	Yamaha	1'34.148	0.495	0.079
5	29	Andrea IANNONE	Ducati	1'34.277	0.624	0.129
6	38	Bradley SMITH	Yamaha	1'34.286	0.633	0.009
7	46	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	1'34.286	0.633	0.000
8	44	Pol ESPARGARO	Yamaha	1'34.408	0.755	0.122
9	6	Stefan BRADL	Honda	1'34.457	0.804	0.049
10	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	1'34.460	0.807	0.003
11	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Honda	1'34.466	0.813	0.006
12	45	Scott REDDING	Honda	1'35.445	1.792	0.979
13	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Ducati	1'35.469	1.816	0.024
14	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	Ducati	1'35.537	1.884	0.068
15	5	Colin EDWARDS	Forward Yamaha	1'35.590	1.937	0.053
16	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	Honda	1'35.787	2.134	0.197
17	69	Nicky HAYDEN	Honda	1'35.891	2.238	0.104
18	17	Karel ABRAHAM	Honda	1'35.925	2.272	0.034
19	23	Broc PARKES	PBM	1'36.046	2.393	0.121
20	8	Hector BARBERA	Avintia	1'36.270	2.617	0.224
21	70	Michael LAVERTY	PBM	1'36.280	2.627	0.010
22	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ART	1'36.657	3.004	0.377
23	63	Mike DI MEGLIO	Avintia	1'36.724	3.071	0.067