Iannone pips Rossi at Dutch practice

ASSEN, Netherlands — Ducati rider Andrea Iannone dominated the first two free practice sessions Friday for this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix where he starts from the back of the grid. Italy's Iannone, who starts Sunday's race from the back of the grid after his clash with Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo in Barcelona, clocked a fastest lap of 1min 33.591sec in overcast conditions on the Assen circuit with just minutes to go. Italy's Valentino Rossi, last year's winner, set a second fastest time of 01:33.595 just 0.004sec behind on his Yamaha, with championship leader Marc Marquez of Honda third quickest. "The first impressions were very good for me and my team, but the situation is not easy," said Iannone. "It was difficult to change direction on the bike and we tried to improve this, but we couldn't improve it that much. "But for sure tomorrow we will try and improve this situation, improve our limit and hopefully then we can go faster, but it is not so bad to finish top in both practice sessions." Rossi is bidding for an eighth victory around the Assen track, to go with his triumph in Barcelona last time out. "It was a good day and I'm quite satisfied," said Rossi. "This morning I had a small problem but in the afternoon we improved the setting of the bike and we improved my speed. In the end Iannone just beat me by 0.004s, but I'm in second place so I'm quite happy. "For a Friday, it was a good performance." In Moto2, Swiss Thomas Luthi of Kalex set the pace with 16-year-old Spanish rider Aron Canet fastest in Moto3. — AFP