Ecstar Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro will race with the soft rear Bridgestone in tomorrow’s Assen MotoGP if the track temperature isn’t too high.

The Spaniard, who starts from the front row for the second race in succession, says there isn’t a huge difference between the soft and medium compound tyres this weekend, so he will gamble on the white-walled Bridgestone.

“Today I didn’t try the hard tyre as yesterday I made the same laptime with both so I tried to get a lot of laps with the soft and the drop is normal,” he said.

“It is just a little softer on the right side so there is one corner where you have to be careful with the speed but yes, if it not really hot we will try to race with the soft.

“We have improved my GSX-RR a lot since Friday. We had a bad start and had to completely change the bike; I had a lot of chattering and with Tom we decided to change a lot on the front. This is not an easy thing to do but we knew we could do much better. We have also tried some of the set-ups that we tried in Aragon but they weren’t effective here, so we looked for new solutions.

“In Barcelona, everything was easier while here we struggled more, but at the end I feel I have a good pace and also the fastest-lap is very quick. Here at Assen, the first corner is closer to the start than in Barcelona; therefore I hope I will be able not suffer too many overtakes. It’s important to start from the first-row but we must be aware that qualifying is only one lap and race is longer, but the pace I have makes me confident I can aim for the top six.”