Assen MotoGP: Late mistake costs James Toseland third row

James Toseland believes a crucial late mistake on his last flying lap that cost him a third row starting position for tomorrow’s Dutch MotoGP at Assen.

The British rider seemed certain to bump himself into the top eight when he nearly suffered a big high-side on his Tech 3 Yamaha on his last Michelin qualifying tyre.

Toseland, looking to bounce back from a nightmare British MotoGP last weekend, had to settle for 13th with a best time of 1.36.978.

Toseland said: “I wasn’t on a bad lap on the last lap but I had a big moment coming out of the last chicane and lost all my time. I was only eight-tenths off the leader in the first three splits so it was looking good for the third row. But that mistake cost me and it is a bit unfortunate.

“The third row would have been a good result. I have got to finish tomorrow and get a good race under my belt and be back in the top ten.

“At the start I went out on Colin’s set-up with a couple of modifications and it wasn’t too bad. Then I went out on the other bike with Colin’s set-up, which had a few more tweaks to suit me and it wasn’t any better.

“We ran that with the qualifiers but looking back we had a better base setting with the other bike and we could have done a bit more with the softer tyres.

“I’m hoping warm-up is going to be dry because at the moment we seem to take a long time to get the set-up. We are still looking to improve it again on the day of the race.

“The bike needs to be sorted for the race after qualifying and we have got to improve in that area. I’m still holding my breath at every corner and that’s not the way to be riding.

“I need to get back into the comfort zone. I got into the 37s at the end on race tyres and other than Casey I think race pace will be high 36s and low 37s.

“I’m sure I’ve got mid-37s in me and that is likely to be fighting for the top six. That’s the target tomorrow but I just want a good solid result at the moment.”