Assen, MotoGP, FP2: Iannone at the top, Rossi too

The track is still dry at Assen, and those who gave in to the frenzy out of caution this morning therefore did not win their bet; everything has to start again this afternoon.

The weather even improved slightly during Moto2 as a slight hazy sun then lit up a Batavian circuit where the air and asphalt temperatures are now 23° and 33° respectively.

However, the clouds are gathering again on the horizon, so all the riders set off without wasting time as soon as the green lights come on for this second of MotoGP free practice which promises to be immediately competitive.

Assen MotoGP	2015	2016
FP1	1'34.357 (Valentino Rossi)	1'34.349 (Andrea Iannone)
FP2	1'33.450 (Dani Pedrosa)
FP3	1'33.167 (Valentino Rossi)
FP4	1'33.387 (Marc Marquez)
Pole Positions	1'32.627 (Valentino Rossi)
Best lap of the circuit:	1'32.627 (Valentino Rossi in 2015)

And, indeed, from the 3rd round, Marc Marquez (Hard rear tire) recorded the best provisional time of the day, in 1'34.292.
The Honda driver continues his momentum; 1'34.208.
Behind, except for Alvaro Bautista who falls at turn #3, we don't let go and Andrea Iannone is 1 tenth behind, Vinales, Dovizioso, Rossi and Aleix Espargaro, 4 behind.
As a result, Marc Marquez increased the pace a little further and achieved a 1'33.924 in the wake of Iannone.

At the end of the first run, the Top 10 is made up of Marquez, Iannone, Rossi, Vinales, Dovizioso, A. Espargaro, Petrucci, Redding, Smith and Lorenzo.

At the start of the second run, the Mallorcan driver fitted a Hard tire to his M1 and repositioned himself just behind his teammate, in 5th position. Note thatit uses the new Yamaha chassis, unlike the #46.

Vinales and Crutchlow positioned themselves 3rd and 4th while Hector Barbera fell without gravity at turn #3.

At the start of the last run, the Top 10 lines up Marquez, Iannone, Vinales, Crutchlow, Dovizioso, Rossi, Lorenzo, A. Espargaro, Petrucci and Smith as the sun makes a timid appearance again.

Aleix Espargaro renews his love affair with Assen by placing 3rd, while Bradley Smith is positioned just behind the two official Yamahas of Rossi and Lorenzo.

Bautista experiences his second fall of the session at turn #5. Meanwhile, Marquez puts the big wings on his Honda. Balance sheet; 1'33.724.

Lorenzo and Petrucci make the talk and place themselves 2nd and 3rd provisionally.

Two minutes from the checkered flag, Rossi took pole (1'33.595) just before Iannone snatched it from him by 4 thousandths in 1'33.591.

Laverty falls at turn #5 but with 14 drivers in the second, Sunday's race promises to be very competitive...

Pos		Pile		Team	Motorcycle	Km / h	Temps	difference
1		Andrea Iannone		Ducati Team	Ducati	313.4	1'33.591
2		Valentino ROSSI		Yamaha Motor Racing	Yamaha	303.0	1'33.595	0.004
3		Marc Márquez		Repsol Honda Team	Honda	305.6	1'33.724	0.133
4		Maverick VIÑALES		Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	305.0	1'33.892	0.301
5		Jorge Lorenzo		Yamaha Motor Racing	Yamaha	303.4	1'33.991	0.400
6		Andrea Dovizioso		Ducati Team	Ducati	311.3	1'34.011	0.420
7		Danilo PETRUCCI		OCTO Yakhnich bow	Ducati	303.1	1'34.065	0.474
8		Aleix Espargaro		Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	300.8	1'34.087	0.496
9		Pol Espargaró		Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	308.0	1'34.163	0.572
10		Scott REDDING		OCTO Yakhnich bow	Ducati	306.3	1'34.172	0.581
11		Dani PEDROSA		Repsol Honda Team	Honda	304.9	1'34.206	0.615
12		Hector BARBERA		Avintia Racing	Ducati	304.9	1'34.404	0.813
13		Cal Crutchlow		Honda LCR	Honda	303.4	1'34.480	0.889
14		Bradley SMITH		Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	302.2	1'34.531	0.940
15		Eugene LAVERTY		Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	301.1	1'34.789	1.198
16		Jack Miller		Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	301.7	1'35.008	1.417
17		Stefan BRADL		Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	299.8	1'35.056	1.465
18		Yonny HERNANDEZ		Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	299.0	1'35.125	1.534
19		Michael PIRRO		Avintia Racing	Ducati	298.6	1'35.220	1.629
20		Alvaro BAUTISTA		Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	301.7	1'35.284	1.693
21		Tito RABAT		Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	298.0	1'36.582	2.991