Aprilia Racing

The forecast turned out to be accurate: Friday at Assen was also marked by weather which was, to say the least, unpredictable. The last qualifying session this morning was run in the wet, which prevented any improvements to yesterday's times. Max Biaggi will start from the fifth row in the seventeenth spot on the grid for the two races tomorrow.

During the subsequent practice sessions, the mechanics worked on adapting to the changing conditions on the track which was drying off. This situation was not very useful for Max, with a deficit of time and feeling on the track and who would have benefited from some "stable" practice in order to make a concrete improvement. In any case the Corsair worked hard, clawing his way to eleventh place, just outside of the top ten.

Tomorrow will certainly not be an easy Sunday for Max: “After a dismal Friday, practice today unfortunately did not allow us to work the way we had hoped. We were definitely able to improve in spite of the fact that conditions were constantly changing. The thing that will make tomorrow's races an uphill battle is the starting position. It will be of utmost importance to start strong and not to lose any time in the first phases of the race, trying to stay with the front group in order to mount a comeback. There are a lot of riders here that have a better pace than ours. We'll try to sort things out as best as possible in the warm-up tomorrow morning.”

Eugene Laverty's day ended after the first Superpole session while the Northern Irish rider was pushing for a spot in the top eight. As Eugene was pushing hard on slicks, a sudden rain shower sent him into a slide and a premature return to the garage. This means that Laverty will have to start from the fourteenth spot on the grid, counting on the good pace he demonstrated during the practice sessions in order to make his comeback.

“Superpole was definitely not the best part of our weekend. After starting with the intermediate tires, I put the slicks on since the track was drying off. I knew I'd have to push to the limit in order to get into the top eight before weather conditions changed, but I pushed a bit too hard and crashed. Although starting fourteenth isn't ideal, I know I've been working well with the set up on my RSV4 and I hope I can take advantage of that in the two races tomorrow.”