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Vinales full of confidence after claiming pole ahead of Dutch TT

A week on from finishing last in Germany, Maverick Vinales will be on pole at the Dutch TT after edging out team-mate Fabio Quartararo.

By Daniel Lewis
Maverick Vinales

Assen (Netherlands), June 27: Maverick Vinales is full of confidence after putting his disastrous German Grand Prix showing behind him to claim pole position for Sunday's Dutch TT.

The Monster Energy Yamaha rider finished last at Sachsenring last week, but stuck with the same bike at Assen and dominated qualifying on Saturday (June 26).

Vinales topped FP1, FP1 and FP3 before setting a new lap record of 1:31.814 seconds in qualifying, the 26-year-old finishing 0.071s ahead of team-mate Fabio Quartararo.

Dutch GP: Vinales pips Quartararo for poleDutch GP: Vinales pips Quartararo for pole

It was the perfect response on the back of last week's calamity, but Vinales insists the dominant showing at Assen should not come as a surprise.

"Honestly this should be the norm all weekends," he said. "I think we have a good level, our confidence is high.

"I have a really high confidence in what we are able to do but just we didn't find the way to do it before.

"This weekend we didn't touch anything. I said, 'don't touch the bike, it's perfect'. And working on that, it was good, I'm quite happy and now we'll see.

"Tomorrow we have a good chance, we will push at the maximum. For me the result isn't important – for me it's important to give the maximum from one to lap 25."

Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia will join Yamaha pair Vinales and Quartararo on the front row for Sunday's race, while Takaaki Nakagami and Johann Zarco are on row two.

Quartararo tops the riders' standings and has a 22-point lead on Johann Zarco, but the Frenchman accepts he faces a tough task overhauling Vinales on Sunday (June 27).

"I think with Maverick we need to be clever, because it's true that on the paper we have really good pace," he said.

"So, I think if we need to play something in my opinion it's great to be clever on the first lap and see at the end.

"But it will depend. I feel great to fight for the victory. It's not that because my main contenders are behind me that I need to be careful.

"For me, it’s the beginning of the championship, we are not even in the middle. So, if I have one chance to fight for the victory I will go for it."

Marc Marquez came out on top in Germany last week, but he will start from 20th in Sunday's 26-lap Dutch TT after crashing in qualifying.

The Repsol Honda rider was flung from his RC213V early on in Friday's FP2 session and admits that accident affected him the following day.

"It's true that today I started the morning and the first thing was I was like, 'OK, it will be impossible to ride the bike' because after the crash from yesterday I had a lot of pain," he said.

"Then it was very difficult. This was in the morning, then in the afternoon step by step I felt better, and this makes me happy because it looks like now if it's in a better way.

"But it's true that the crash from yesterday affected me a lot today."

Provisional classification

1. Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha) 1:31.814

2. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) +0.071s

3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.302s

4. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) +0.500s

5. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) +0.580s

6. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) +0.636s

7. Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) +0.783s

8. Jack Miller (Ducati) +0.795s

9. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) +0.852s

10. Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar) +0.934s

11. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda) +1.016s

12. Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha) +1.105

Story first published: Sunday, June 27, 2021, 9:50 [IST]
Other articles published on Jun 27, 2021