Bradley Smith is hoping for a dry race tomorrow after rain prevented him from doing better than tenth in qualifying for the TT Assen. The Briton was sixth fastest in morning practice and was targeting a similar result in qualifying, but rain in the first 20 minutes of the session thwarted those plans.
The Tech 3 rider admitted it could have been much worse given the conditions, but admitted he wouldn't be too disappointed if the circuit has seen the last of the rain for this weekend.
“It certainly hasn’t been the smoothest weekend so far with all the disruptions and rain, but I’m happy to be inside the top ten and confident of a strong race. We made quite a big change to the set-up after I was sixth in the dry this morning and in some areas it was positive. I knew we could improve our pace and get more confident with the bike but then the rain came and that was a shame because I think we could have been a bit higher up the grid. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a dry race, but we have to be ready for both conditions. Starting from the fourth row is a lot better than Silverstone, so if I can have a similar race tomorrow then I’ll be really happy.”
Teammate Mike Di Meglio will join him on the fourth row after qualifying 12th and is happy with the set-up on his Mistral 610 in either condition.
“We finished in a decent position just outside the top ten, so I am happy. I was immediately much faster this afternoon compared to this morning and we made big step with the bike, but unfortunately the rain started and we had no chance to make further improvements. Yesterday was not so bad in the rain and today it was not so bad in the dry, so we are good for both conditions and I am happy with the set-up. We just need to see what happens tomorrow with the weather because we know Assen can be really unpredictable.”
The Moto2 race is the second on tomorrow's schedule and will get underway at 12:15pm UK time.
