Better times today

Things are progressing little by little during this first weekend of the championship. Markus Reiterberger, Beau Beaton and Randy Pagaud were quicker than they were yesterday. A lot of work remains to be done, but the evolution is positive.

The day started really well, with Markus taking the fifth position in the free practice session, with Beau fifteenth. Both showed they have a good potential, while Randy is still learning the track and the category.

It was a bit more complicated in the afternoon, with Reiterberger running into traffic and Beaton crashing, happily without being hurt. Beau and Randy still have suspension problems that hopefully will be solved for the next race in Monza.

Sylvain Barrier (BMW) was the fastest today in front of three Ducati, very much at ease here in Assen on this fast and flowing track. The Italians bikes were ridden by Italian riders: Giugliano, Petrucci and Baroni.

Markus Reiterberger: “We changed the settings of the rear suspension for the free practice session and it was much better. In the qualifying, I used the old tyre until the middle of the session. Then we put a new tyre on the rear and I went fast. But the front was always a little bit slippery. When I tried to go faster, there was too much traffic. I am in fourteenth position and we’ll see tomorrow. I need a good start, do well in the beginning of the race… and overtake all the others!”

Beau Beaton: “We made some big improvements with the bike today. There are a lot of forward steps. We went 2 seconds faster so it’s a big jump. With the speed you get more problems so we are trying to solve those problems. I had a little problem in qualifications, but I think we’ll make up for it in race pace.”

Randy Pagaud:”Today we started with better suspensions so we were immediately 0.5 faster. This afternoon, we progressed on the chassis. You need a lot of motivation here when you are behind and you want to get closer to the front. When I put some new tyres, I was one second quicker. I am looking forward to finish in the top 20 tomorrow.”

Qualifying results:

1- Sylvain Barrier – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – 1’39.915

2- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1098R – + 0.130
3- Danilo Petrucci – Barni Racing Team – Ducati 1098R – + 0.262
4- Lorenzo Baroni – Althea Racing – Ducati 1098R – + 0.525
5- Roy Ten Napel – Domburg Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.603
6- Andrea Antonelli – Team Lorini – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.735
7- Sheridan Morais – Lorenzini by Leoni – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.813
8- Lorenzo Zanetti – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 1.000
9- Eddi La Marra – Team Lorini – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1.019
10- Lorenzo Savadori – Lorenzini by Leoni – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.066
11- Luca Verdini – Ten Kate Junior Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 1.119

14- Markus Reiterberger – Garnier Alpha Racing Team BMW S1000RR – + 1.378

23- Beau Beaton – Garnier Racing Team – BMW S1000RR – + 2.546
…
27- Randy Pagaud – Garnier Racing Team – BMW S1000RR – + 3.854