Georgi secures first pole position of new season at Assen

• Standard class rider Dirk Geiger up front, mixing it with the GP category riders
• Tim Georgi, Walid Khan Soppe and Kevin Orgis head up front row
• Season opener under banner of Superbike World Championship

Assen: Conditions were cool and windy for the start of the first race weekend of the 2017 ADAC Northern Europe Cup being staged under the banner of the Superbike World Championship at Assen's TT circuit. However, the weather had improved by Saturday, and the sun came out in time for the second qualifying of the Moto3 series for junior riders around the 4.555-kilometre circuit in the Netherlands.

Tim Georgi (16, GER) clearly had the upper hand both in practice and in the first quali session on Friday, setting best time of 1:48.502 minutes. The ADAC Sports Foundation protégé even increased his pace in the second race against the clock and had achieved best time of 1:45.873 minutes by the end of the 35 qualifying laps, giving the GP class rider pole position in Sunday's first race of the season.

His Freudenberg Racing team-mate, Walid Khan Soppe (17, NED), slotted into position behind him. Following the Dutch teenager, who is also contesting the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup this season, came Kevin Orgis (17, GER), who is now competing in the GP class this season after a year in the Standard category and completes the line-up on the front row for this first race weekend.

Dirk Geiger (14, GER), another ADAC Sports Foundation protégé and reigning Standard class champion, found himself up there, mixing it with the GP riders, and will complete the second row on the grid after achieving a fastest lap time of 1:48.052 minutes. Guest starters Maximilian Kofler (16, AUT) and Sasha de Vits (15, BEL), both riding GP machines, are behind Geiger on the second row.

Rookie Jan-Ole Jähnig (16, GER), who is the 2016 championship runner-up in the ADAC Junior Cup powered by KTM and now rides in the GP class, took seventh place and will head up the third row in front of Standard class riders Leon Orgis (15, GER) and Luca de Vleeschauwer (14, NED). Rick Dunnik (15, NED), who, like Leon Orgis and de Vleeschauwer competes in the Standard category, completed the Top Ten in qualifying.

The first race of the 2017 ADAC NEC season over 13 laps starts on Sunday at 4:10 pm.

Comments from the front-runners

Dirk Geiger (14, GER), Fastest, ADAC NEC Standard:
“Conditions were much better today than on Friday. I like the track here in Assen and was very pleased to take pole position in the Standard class. I drove my fastest laps without the benefit of slipstreaming and am obviously pleased to be able to do so well against the GP riders. I hope that I can keep up with them in the race tomorrow as we get away at the start, but I know that I won't be able to match their pace for the whole of the race. My goal for race day is to secure the win in the Standard class, for sure!”

Tim Georgi (16, GER), Fastest, ADAC NEC GP:
“We weren't able to try out too much yesterday, nor were we in a position to really use the time to set the bike up for the track, because it was just too cold. But things went much better in the second qualifying session today, as you can clearly see from my lap times. Overall, I have to say, it was a bit more fun in the sun. We will certainly try and make some fine adjustments for tomorrow. For the race, I must now focus fully on myself and push hard to post even faster lap times. I hope I can win tomorrow.”