On Saturday in the Netherlands, Jonas Folger underlined potential once again showing good improvements in his lap times but struggled with lack of race experience in the sprint.
It was another busy Saturday for Jonas Folger and the GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 team, who first contested qualifying, followed by the highly anticipated sprint in the “Cathedral of Speed” in the afternoon. Folger continued his efforts in every session of the day, with the result that he finished the sprint in 21st place.
Under the watchful eye of Pol Espargaro, who surprised everyone with a visit to the TT Assen on Friday evening and is aiming to make his comeback at the next race in Silverstone at the beginning of August, Folger improved his times in free practice with a personal best of 1´34.030, almost half a second faster than on Friday. In qualifying, the 29-year-old German rider was even faster in 1´33.300, just 0.218 seconds off team mate Augusto Fernandez. For the grid, however, it was only enough for P23 on row eight.
Folger got off to a good start in the sprint and was initially able to keep up with the two riders in front of him. On the fourth lap he set his fastest lap in 1´34.409, always giving his best to keep up with Spanish rider Iker Lecuona, who substitutes Joan Mir in Repsol Honda this weekend. After 13 hot laps at the TT Circuit in Assen Folger finished 21st.
Sunday is the last race before the summer break. Starting time is as always at 14:00.
#94 Jonas FOLGER
GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, KTM RC16
Grid position: 23 / Sprint: 21
“I got away well at the start, but that was it. I do not think I had everything under control during the race. In some moments I had problems with turning, in other moments I did not manage to stay with the guys in front, so I lost a bit of confidence. Tomorrow is probably my last race, so I am intent on getting everything right. To do that we have to sit down today and look at some things and try to improve them because I want to be able to keep up with the guys in front of me, at least with Iker Lecuona. In any case, I want to have a better race than today.”
#DutchtGP - MotoGP™ Qualifyings Results:
1 Marco BEZZECCHI / ITA / Mooney VR46 Racing Team / Ducati / 1´31.472
2 Francesco BAGNAIA / ITA / Ducati Lenovo Team / Ducati / 1´31.533 +0.061
3 Luca MARINI / ITAA / Mooney VR46 Racing Team / Ducati / 1´31.630 +0.158
23 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 / KTM / 1´33.300 (Q1)
#DutchGP - MotoGP™ Sprint (13 Laps):
1 Marco BEZZECCHI / ITA / Mooney VR46 Racing Team / Ducati / 20´09.174
2 Francesco BAGNAIA / ITA / Ducati Lenovo Team / Ducati / +1.294
3 Fabio QUARTARARO / FRA / Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP / Yamaha / +1.872
21 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 / KTM / +32.056
MotoGP™ World Standing:
1 Francesco BAGNAIA / ITA / Ducati / 169
2 Jorge MARTIN / SPA / Ducati / 148
3 Marco BEZZECCHI / ITA / Ducati / 138
21 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / KTM / 7
#DutchGP - MotoGP™ Time Schedule for Sunday June 25th (CEST):
09:45 - 09:55 Warm Up
14:00 Race (26 Laps - 118.092 km)
