Alvaro takes the first pole of the season while Toprak is third followed by Lowes, Redding and Locatelli. 8th Bassani followed by Petrucci and Lecuona, 16th Rinaldi, 19th Baldassarri
Written by Riccardo Guglie… – Sat, 22/04/2023 – 11:36
First pole of the season at Assen for Alvaro Bautista, author of the pole thanks to a time of 1’33”542. By just 27 thousandths of a second, the world champion gets the better of Johnny Rea, while Toprak enters third position, trailing by only 119 thousandths.
Times are particularly limited, because in one second we find 16 riders. Opening the second row is Lowes’ Kawasaki followed by a surprising BMW, or rather that of Scott Redding, pressed by Locatelli’s R1.
Seventh time for the Yamaha GRT of Aegerter then the BMWs of Bassani and Petrucci, while the Honda of Lecuona tenth. Rinaldi’s Ducati was only 16th, called to deal with a gap from the leader of over nine tenths. 18th Ray then Baldassarri.
11:25 Rea lights up red helmets in all sectors, but for only 27 thousandths of a second he has to surrender. Important step forward for Petrucci, who at the last attempt becomes ninth ahead of Lecuona. 16th Rinaldi.
11:24 Toprak also arrives: the Turk is second behind Alvaro by 119 thousandths.
11:23 Watch out for Redding, who surprisingly rises to fourth position followed by Locatelli.
11:22 Impressive Bautista: 1’33”542, it’s momentary pole for the Spaniard from Ducati. Fourth instead Bassani at four tenths. 12th Rinaldi.
11:21 Last five minutes of qualifying: the session heats up with the red helmets starting to flock.
11:19 Rea hammers in his lap and closes in style with the best time in 1’33″668. The Cannibal precedes Lowes by 73 thousandths while Bautista is still third. Redding 17th followed by Petrucci and Baldassarri.
11:18 The first stint ends now. All the drivers are in the pits waiting to change the tyre. This is the ranking.
11:15 Step forward by Bautista, who becomes third at 211 thousandths from the time trial of Lowes. Aegerter improves, becoming fifth, Bassani 8th, Rinaldi 13th. 18th Petrucci followed by Baldassarri.
11:14 Lowes immediately places his paw setting the momentary reference at 1’33″741. The two Kawasakis are the only ones under the 1’34” wall while Toprak is sixth behind Locatelli.
11:12 Rea takes the lead in 1’33″887 followed by Aegerter, Bassani and Bautista. These are currently the top three after the first pass across the finish line.
11:10 Here we are! The Sbk qualifying now begins with Rea the first rider to take to the track with the Kawasaki.
11:00 Bulega took pole in the SSP and now it’s the turn of SBK, where Bautista dreams of the first box of the season
10:30 In just over 30 minutes, the SBK qualifying at Assen will begin. The weather conditions have improved: in fact, the sun is shining and the asphalt temperature has reached 20 degrees, while the asphalt is 16 degrees.
At 11:10 the qualifying of Assen will start. In the last free practice session, held on a damp track, Gardner set the benchmark ahead of Alvaro Bautista’s Ducati by 711 thousandths. On the other hand, Toprak Razgatlioglu entered third position with the Yamaha while Rea saved himself by avoiding going out on the track.
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