Pedrosa admits Rossi qualifying aid

Returning to the front row after two races away, Dani Pedrosa took advantage of having this year’s Assen poleman in front of him to grab second on the grid in qualifying. The Repsol Honda rider is looking to end a year-long win drought for both himself and Honda on Saturday, and is feeling much more capable of the task than at his recent home round in Barcelona.

“I’m pleased with my qualifying position today, especially considering that there was quite a lot of traffic on track in the final few minutes,” said Pedrosa, famed for his speedy starts in the premier class.

“It’s always good to be on the front row, because then you have the best chance to make a clean getaway, so I’m satisfied with second. I was lucky at the end of the session to have Valentino in front and being behind him helped me a lot to set this lap time.”

The former World Championship runner-up missed testing after the Barcelona race, and as such still has to play catch-up with some minor details ahead of the Alice TT Assen itself. However, he is feeling comfortable with both the bike and his rapidly improving physical condition.

“The feeling from the machine is quite good, although we still need to make some adjustments to the set-up to make best use of the Bridgestone tyres for the race, and this is what we’ll be working on in the warm-up tomorrow,” he explained.

“My physical condition on the bike today was again much better than at the last race in Barcelona and this makes a lot of difference because I am able to concentrate fully on riding. I know that the race will be very physically demanding though, so I can take nothing for granted. Still, with some final set-up improvements, I hope I can make a good start and have a strong race tomorrow.”