25 June 2022 – TT Circuit Assen – Netherlands

Ayumu, in the second qualifying session after returning from his injury last weekend, won the first Pole Position on Husqvarna.

A great result for Ayumu, who has managed the forces since the first sessions of Friday and when he had to push showed all his speed. In fact, Ayumu yesterday with wet track took no risks and especially in the first session he was rather cautious, also in anticipation of the fact that today the weather would be better. This morning in free practice 3, held with a dry track, he got the sixth position. His result could have been better, if he had not met in the fourth sector a yellow flag, because of which he was canceled his best time. Ayumu still gained direct access to qualifying 2. Qualifying also took place on a dry track, while temperatures rose a few degrees from the morning. On the fifth of the six laps completed and with a used tyre, our Japanese driver got the time of 1’41.296, very close to the All-Time Lap Record. Ayumu’s last pole before this one was at the 2019 German Grand Prix.

John unfortunately ran into a slip in turn 1 during his time attack. He also earned qualifying 2 this morning and also for our British driver there was the cancellation of a time, due to the display of a yellow flag. John, in the third of the five laps completed in qualifying, got the time of 1’42.121, with which tomorrow he will start eleventh. He was fast in any track condition, in fact yesterday in wet conditions he was immediately among the fastest, managing to have a great feeling with his Husqvarna. Even today, in the last free practice session he got good times, so it was a shame that the only slip of the weekend took place in qualifying. His position on the grid does not however affect the possibility of a race in the group of the best.

Here are the words of the Poleman, of John and our Legend Max Biaggi, who will celebrate his birthday tomorrow.

AYUMU SASAKI : “I am happy with the pole position. It has been a long time since I had a pole, so I am very happy. I felt good on the bike, we had a great pace, and I also felt better in regard to my injury, mainly because this track has mainly right-side corners. I just can’t wait for tomorrow and hopefully we can have a great race before the summer break.”

JOHN MCPHEE : “It was a shame to crash in the last lap of qualifying, we also managed our strategy quite well in terms of tires. By the end we had a really good track position and I wanted to try and take deeply for a lap time but unfortunately, I crashed already in the first corner, so I was not able to improve. I struggled a bit with the soft tires today. I was not able to take benefits from the extra grip, it just caused more problems, so we have some work to do. The good thing is that we feel good with the hard tires so for the race tomorrow we need to save one to use. Anyway I have something we can work on and I am sure we can be strong.”

MAX BIAGGI – TEAM OWNER : “Ayumu worked very well on his race pace throughout the weekend and this result in qualifying was unexpected, as he reached it with a used tire. Like all unexpected things it gives even more taste. Ayumu was particularly good and for this I want to congratulate him and his team, who have done a good job. We enjoy this moment, aware that the important thing will be to do well tomorrow in the race.”

Results Motul TT Assen 2022 – Qualifying

Pole – Ayumu SASAKI (Husqvarna) 1’41.296, 11. John MCPHEE (Husqvarna) 1’42.121.