With P28 and P30 in qualifying less than hoped for
Today qualifying was on the schedule for tomorrow’s TT races. The TT in Assen this year marks the end of the first half of the season because after tomorrow’s race there are no races on the program until the weekend of 6 – 8 August.
After the varying conditions during yesterday’s training sessions, it was dry all day today. Perhaps that was exactly what the two NTS RW drivers hadn’t hoped for. Because yesterday’s wet FP2 session went well, Hafizh Syahrin and Barry Baltus secretly wanted a qualifying in the rain. That didn’t happen and that made it all very difficult for both men. Team manager Jarno Janssen is the first to look back: “This race is of course very important for us as a Dutch team. We already miss the opportunity to receive guests from our sponsors on a large scale due to corona and then the race becomes very important. A good starting position is crucial, but that was not possible today. Tomorrow we will adjust the setup to improve ourselves. Both drivers have plenty of fighting spirit and we have already proven this season that we can get far out in the race.”
Hafizh was not happy and looks back on a difficult preparation for the TT race: “Because I was not able to drive enough on a dry track on the first day, today was a difficult day for me. Of course it was good to get a feel for the bike on a wet track yesterday afternoon, but as it has remained dry all day today we missed the speed for a good time. I thought we would make more progress during FP3 and QP. I think it’s a shame for the team and our fans that we didn’t succeed in that. I’m going to do everything I can to finish at least top 20 tomorrow.”
Barry Baltus thinks that especially the unpredictable weather at Assen can play a role: “Today was not my best day, but tomorrow will be a new day. Today the weather forecast was that it would rain but it remained dry, maybe tomorrow it will happen the other way around. We’ll wait and see, you never know here. I will do my best if we are lucky I can very well get another top 20 finish.”
After the warm-up session in the morning, the Moto2 race will start tomorrow at 1220 pm (CET +1)