Espargaró delighted with practice performance

Seventh in the first session at the TIM TT Assen was a very satisfying result for the Pramac Racing rider.

Aleix Espargaró was extremely pleased with how his TIM TT Assen weekend got underway on Thursday, as he rode to seventh fastest in the first practice on board his satellite Ducati of the Pramac Racing team.

The Spanish rider was 0.758s off Jorge Lorenzo’s time with his effort of 1’35.927, and felt strong on his machine having pushed hard to achieve a confidence boosting result in the first session of the weekend.

“I’m really happy, yesterday we did a lap with my chief mechanic,” said Espargaró. “I remember last year it was a great (250cc) race here and this is my favourite circuit. I want to do well here and go fast, and in the end the free practice was perfect. I pushed as hard as I could and seventh position is really good. We have a good set-up on the bike and we were fast lap by lap so we must continue working like this for tomorrow.”

Espargaró refused to rest up though and has targeted a top-six spot on the grid in Friday’s qualifying. He added: “This is just the first free practice and tomorrow nobody will remember this! So it’s important to maintain this direction and qualifying is the important thing. I hope tomorrow we’ll have a great free practice and try to be inside the top six. The second or third row would be perfect.”