At the famous TT Circuit in Assen, which is a difficult track because of its fast and flowing layout, Jonas Folger obviously copes better with the KTM RC16.
Green lights are on for the World Championship’s annual visit to the historic TT Circuit of Assen in the north of the Netherlands. For Jonas Folger, the weekend began with encouraging progress as the German and his GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 team began preparations for round eight of the season in sunny weather on Friday.
At the tradition-steeped TT Assen, which has been a permanent entry to the calendar since the inception of the motorcycle world championship in 1949, Jonas Folger replaced Pol Espargaro for the sixth time, who heavily crashed in Portugal and continues to recover from injuries. The 29-year-old KTM rider focused primarily on adapting his riding style to the demanding KTM RC16 in both sessions. This morning he set his fastest lap time in the final minutes in a 1’34.741, just 0.63 seconds off Marc Marquez’s personal best.
In practice two, Folger split the one-hour session into four runs in order to further improve. The fourth run seemed to be the one in which he felt most comfortable. Folger was able to improve his time to a 1’34.400 and ended up 23rd on the timesheet, with a minimal gap to the riders in front of him.
MotoGP™ action begins on Saturday morning at 10:10am local time with a free practice session, followed by the qualifying heats. In the afternoon, a thirteen-lap sprint is on the agenda. Starting time is 3:00 p.m.
#94 Jonas FOLGER
GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, KTM RC16
Practice 1: P23 - 1´34.741 (15/16) / Practice 2: P23 - 1´34.400 (22/24)
“I am quite happy with day one in Assen, because we were able to further reduce the gap to the other riders. The TT Circuit is a very special track, very difficult, nevertheless I think there is still a lot of room for improvement. We still have a few things to sort out this evening, so hopefully we can make another step on Saturday.”
#DutchGP - MotoGP™ Combined Practice Times (P1/P2):
1 Marco BEZZECCHI / ITA / Mooney VR46 Racing Team / Ducati / 1´32.063 (P2)
2 Jorge MARTIN / SPA / Prima Pramac Racing / Ducati / 1´32.193 +0.130 (P2)
3 Jack MILLER / AUS / Red Bull KTM Factory Racing / KTM / 1´32.218 +0.155 (P2)
23 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 / KTM / 1´34.400 +2.337 (P2)
#DutchGP - MotoGP™ Time Schedule for Saturday June 24th (CEST):
10:10 - 10:40 FP
10:50 - 11:05 Q1
11:15 - 11:30 Q2
15:00 Sprint (13 Laps - 59.046 km)
