Yamaha World Superbike riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty experienced the historic Assen TT race track on their YZF-R1’s for the first time in this morning’s free practice session. Sunshine and a dry track proved ideal conditions to try the machine’s basic set up. The two Yamaha riders got straight down to business in order to find more suitable settings ahead of the aftrenoon’s first Qualifying session.
Melandri encountered discomfort with the handling of his machine and lack of grip on the Dutch track. Hard work throughout the afternoon saw a huge improvement, allowing him to put in a series of consistently fast laps and complete the session in third place. The Italian also tested various tyres solutions looking for the optimum set up ahead of tomorrow’s second qualifying and subsequent Superpole sessions
Teammate Laverty took advantage of the first practice session to regain confidence and feeling on his bike following the difficult weekend in the last round of the championship in Donington. Once satisfied this was accomplished he proceeded to work on various machine settings and tyre life to find a suitable solution for the day ahead tomorrow.
Marco Melandri – Yamaha World Superbike Team
“We had a relatively difficult morning, experiencing a lack of grip and suffering with the handling of the bike. The team and I worked hard all afternoon. The crew did a great job trying resolving the problem and we made significant progress. There’s still some fine tuning to be done and we need to find the most competitive tyre for the race on Sunday . Tomorrow I’m going to concentrate on qualifying, I’m aiming to secure a front row position on the grid and I think we can do it.”
Eugene Laverty – Yamaha World Superbike Team
“This morning was important for me to regain confidence on the bike. We had a very tough race weekend in the last round of the championship but I’m satisfied that I managed to put that behind me in today’s free practice session. We made progress this afternoon, improving on the chassis and finding more suitable tyres. I completed a longer run, almost a race run and put in respectable times. Completing the session in eighth is pretty good considering we spent the day working on the setting, so overall I’m relatively satisfied.“
Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“I’m quite happy with the start to the weekend in Assen. After improving on the set up of the bike both Marco and Eugene tried out some softer tyres and managed to put in faster laps. There’s still some work to be done but I’m confident that we are going in the right direction. It’s very important that both riders have good results in tomorrow’s qualifying and Superpole sessions, securing grid positions in the front two rows.”
2011 World Superbike Netherlands
Assen 15/04/2011
1 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1’36.058
2 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 1’36.287
3 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 1’36.494
4 Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 1’36.550
5 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 1’36.747
6 Troy Corser BMW AUS 1’36.876
7 Leon Haslam BMW GBR 1’36.989
8 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 1’37.024
9 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 1’37.073
10 Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 1’37.106
11 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 1’37.114
12 Joan Lascorz Kawasaki ESP 1’37.364
13 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 1’37.373
14 Ruben Xaus Honda ESP 1’37.424
15 Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 1’37.613
Circuit Length:
4555
Weather:
Sunny
Lap Record:
1’36.413
(Carlos Checa, 1/1/2010)
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’34.944
(Jonathan Rea, 4/25/2010)
Last Years Winner:
Jonathan Rea
Successful First Qualifying for Yamaha ParkinGO Team
Yamaha World Supersport riders; Luca Scassa and Chaz Davies, successfully completed a series of fast laps in free practice and Qualifying sessions on the historic Assen TT race track this afternoon. Following the team’s One Two victory in the last round of the 2011 WSS championship, the two Yamaha ParkinGO riders are determined to take the lead again here in Assen and proved competitive in today’s performance.
Chaz Davies completed this morning’s free practice putting in the fastest lap, over three tenths of a second ahead of Lowes, in second place. This afternoon’s session saw the Brit push back to fifth while concentrating on fine tuning the set up of his YZF- R6 in advance of tomorrow’s second Qualifying and Sunday’s race. Teammate and current Championship leader; Luca Scassa also provided an impressive performance, just two tenths of a second behind Davies in this morning’s session and jumping up to second in the subsequent Qualifying session.
Chaz Davies – Yamaha ParkinGO Team
“We had a good start this morning, fastest in free practice. We changed the set up slightly before the afternoon’s qualifying session and that also worked pretty well. I’m concentrating on re-familiarizing myself with the track and not too concerned with lap time and position for now. We have some work to do but I’m confident that we can do well again tomorrow.”
Luca Scassa – Yamaha ParkinGO Team
“This is my first experience in World Supersport on the track in Assen. This morning we worked on testing the bike suspension. We are happy with the outcome but still have some work to do on the set up. I’m satisfied with my lap times and confident that we have a competitive bike.”
2011 World Supersport Netherlands
Assen 15/04/2011
1 Florian Marino Honda FRA 1’38.945
2 Luca Scassa Yamaha ITA 1’39.121
3 David Salom Kawasaki ESP 1’39.191
4 Sam Lowes Honda GBR 1’39.291
5 Chaz Davies Yamaha GBR 1’39.519
6 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 1’39.569
7 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 1’39.766
8 Fabien Foret Honda FRA 1’40.247
9 Gino Rea Honda GBR 1’40.273
10 Massimo Roccoli Kawasaki ITA 1’40.344
11 Roberto Tamburini Yamaha ITA 1’40.471
12 Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA 1’40.691
13 James Ellison Honda GBR 1’40.697
14 Miguel Praia Honda POR 1’40.848
15 Alexander Lundh Honda SWE 1’40.885
20 Battaini Franco Yamaha ITA 1’41.531
28 Luca Marconi Yamaha ITA 1’44.461
