Jaume Masia to start from sixth position at Assen, with Dani Holgado in twelfth place

Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 took part in qualifying for the Dutch GP on Saturday at Assen, where Jaume Masia earned sixth position on the grid. Teammate Dani Holgado was the fastest man in Q1, and moved into twelfth position in Q2.

The third Free Practice of the weekend was held in dry conditions. Masia found a good feeling and climbed positions lap after lap, finally placing eleventh with a time of 1:42.505, achieved on his last lap. Holgado took a big step forward in the morning, lapping in sixth position before his first stop in the pits. However, a crash late on prevented him from initially making the cut for Q2, as he finished 18th with a time of 1:42.652.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider thus went into Q1, and after two laps he set the best time of the session with a 1:41.633.

Both riders entered Q2, with Masia leading the way early on. He maintained a good pace throughout, and was in the battle for the front row, his 1:41.811 time eventually taking sixth to close out Row 2. Holgado will begin the race from the fourth row, in 12th thanks to a time of 1:42.134.

The 22-lap Moto3 Dutch GP race will be held on Sunday tomorrow at 11 AM local time.

Results (Qualifying)
1. Ayumu Sasaki (Husqvarna) 1:41.296
2. Tatsuki Suzuki (Honda) 1:41.362 +0.066
3. Izan Guevara (GasGas) 1:41.502 +0.206
4. David Muñoz (KTM) 1:41.664 +0.368
5. Dennis Foggia (Honda) 1:41.765 +0.469
6. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:41.811 +0.515
12. Dani Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:42.134 +0.838

#5 JAUME MASIA

“I am happy with this second row for tomorrow. We fought for the front row from the beginning and it’s a good result that will allow us to get a good start in the race. We have to continue working to finish improving some details, but I feel very good on the bike. We will have to keep an eye on the weather for the race.”

#96 DANI HOLGADO

“The day went quite well. In FP3 I made a mistake, for which we were hit with a long lap penalty – which was completely fair. Even so, our feeling was very positive, because we rode many laps with the same tyre and we have a good pace. I was able to set a very good lap time in Q1 and we worked hard. However, in Q2 I was not able to put a complete lap together due to the yellow flags. Tomorrow we will do our best after this step forward that we have taken.”