Gino Rea described his qualifying session at Assen as a disaster after he could only manage 26th on the grid. The Briton felt he had a series of problems which contributed to the poor result with a rider error on his final attempt capping it off.
“Qualifying was a disastrous session for us to be honest. We made good progress in practice this morning but went slightly the wrong way with the setting this afternoon. I also had a problem with the bike not revving properly on the straight for some reason and then another problem with a tyre, which almost caused me to crash three times on my out lap. I had to come in and fit a new tyre but then on my best lap I hit neutral on the exit from the chicane. So lots of problems in the most important session, unfortunately, but we will look at the data tonight, try to fix our problems and if we can manage that I am confident we have the pace to make up positions tomorrow.”
Gresini teammate Ratthapark Wilairot fared better with thirteenth place, comfortably his best qualifying result of the season and the Thai rider is setting his sights on a top tent finish in Saturday's race.
“I am happy with the bike and the improvement we made from the morning to the afternoon. We are still further than I would like from the front but the gap from fourth place to us is close so I think we can be in that group fighting for the top ten. I just need to get a good start and stay concentrated and I think it can be a good race for us.”
Team Manager Fausto Gresini believes Wilairot is showing the kind of form which should bring points in tomorrow's race and has also backed Rea to respond from today's disappointment.
“I am really happy with the progress Feem is making. Race by race he is closing the gap to the top and improving his confidence with the bike. Considering his feeling around this track I think he can be fighting for a top result tomorrow. It’s a shame Gino hasn’t been able to finish off some good work this weekend with a good grid position. We will try to solve his problems in the warm-up tomorrow, give him a bit more grip and I am confident he will make up positions in the race.“
