Kent Dominates FP1 In Holland

Jun 25, 2015
2 min read

Race Direction have ruled yesterday that riders in the Moto3 class must not idle on their laps during practice and qualifying sessions after the calamitous situation seen at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last time out. Riders must now push on all of their laps and penalties will be handed out in the form of grid drops if a rider is deemed to have deliberately slowed to locate a rider to follow.

This rule was put into immediate effect this morning in the opening practice session ahead of the Dutch TT on Saturday, which led to somewhat more representative form guide heading into the rest of the weekend.

Danny Kent is a rider that likes to go out on his own and hammer in the laps, and that is exactly what he did this morning. The Leopard Racing rider was untouchable at the top of the time sheets, going top very early on and continuing to drop his best time over the course of the session ending up 6-tenths clear of the rest at the top with a 1:42.362.

Assen's flowing nature means horsepower is not at a huge advantage which should suit the KTM runners well as this is the are in which they have lacked relative to the Honda riders. Romano Fenati ended the morning session 2nd quickest with a 1:42.987; the Italian looking far more comfortable at this early stage of the weekend that we are used to seeing. His team-mate's morning wasn't as smooth. Andrea Migno crashed in the final quarter of the 40-minute first free practice session. He lost the front-end of his SKY Racing VR46 KTM going through turn 9 but was unhurt.

Both Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda riders come into this race on the back foot as they haven't ridden at the circuit before. Despite this however, both had a very positive morning. Jorge Navarro completed the top 3, with Fabio Quartararo just under 2-tenths back in 4th.

Efren Vazquez completed the top 5 on the second Leopard Racing Honda.

Enea Bastianini is desperate for his first win. He's come close so often this season but always loses out right at the end of races. His weekend got off to a steady start in 6th, with Miguel Oliveira 7th, Andrea Locatelli 8th, John McPhee 9th, Alexis Masbou 10th.

FP1 Top 10:

1st Danny Kent, Leopard Racing Honda, 1:42.362

2nd Romano Fenati, SKY Racing Team VR46 KTM, 1:42.987

3rd Jorge Navarro, EG 0,0 Honda, 1:43.008

4th Fabio Quartararo, EG 0,0 Honda, 1:43.203

5th Efren Vazquez, Leopard Racing Honda, 1:43.255

6th Enea Bastianini, Gresini Team Moto3 Honda, 1:43.276

7th Miguel Oliveira, Red Bull KTM Ajo, 1:43.615

8th Andrea Locatelli, Gresini Team Moto3 Honda, 1:43.629

9th John McPhee, Saxoprint-RTG Honda, 1:43.701

10th Alexis Masbou, Saxoprint-RTG Honda, 1:43.777

Full results can be found here: