After an intense 25 minutes of qualifying, Raúl Fernández took pole position for these rounds of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup at the TT Assen circuit.
The young Spaniard (15 years old) took a slight advantage during the last ten minutes of the session, against the local hero Walid Soppe, in Japanese Ayumu Sasaki and Russian Makar Yurchenko.
First of all, only 5/100 faster than Walid Soppe (16 years old), he managed to widen a gap of 3 tenths during the last 5 minutes, while his unfortunate opponent was forced to watch him from the pit lane, his hand injured in Barcelona causing him too much pain.
Raul Fernandez: “I got my bearings, I felt good on the bike and I was just focused on doing a complete lap without any mistakes. It's my first pole position and it wasn't easy because I had to use a spare bike for the first free practice sessions because I had a problem. The second session was OK and we started to find good settings. In qualifying, it was almost perfect.
I really enjoy the fast corners here, whereas I could have done better in the slower ones because I don't get back on the gas perfectly. I now feel very comfortable on the bike and this speed wasn't too difficult, you just had to concentrate. »
Walid Soppe: “I injured my hand in Barcelona the other weekend, and I don't have any power.
I didn't want to take any risks. However, for the race, I will forget all that. »
Soppe and Sasaki (15 years old) therefore complete the first row and we will note that if the first 4 drivers were all very fast at one point or another during qualifying, each in turn lighting up the red lights for the partials, only Fernández was able to line them all up in the same round...
Our sole representative, Alexandre Juanes, would have a lot to do tomorrow for the races, since he will have to start from last position.
This weekend's Rookies Cup races can be seen live on www.redbull.tv .
Race 1 is scheduled for 16.30:2 p.m. CET on Saturday and Race 15 will take place on Sunday at 30:10 p.m., with the broadcast starting XNUMX minutes before the start.
