With over a third of the season completed the World MotoGP Championship now goes to Assen in the Netherlands, one of the most historic races in the calendar, where traditionally the race is held on a Saturday instead of a Sunday. The circuit will host the first free practice session on Thursday, and the Repsol riders will start in good spirits after the recent race in Spain – the second on the peninsula in Barcelona. Pedrosa has been able to give some much needed rest to his injured right hip after the super-human efforts he made in Barcelona, and Andrea Dovizioso, closer and closer to a podium finish, will be out to take the next step forward and finish among the first three.
After ten days of rest the Spanish rider is approaching the race where he will have to ride out of his skin to win points, something that will reconnect him with the MotoGP leaders, with a certain amount of caution. The Repsol rider will participate without being anywhere near 100% fit, but with the tranquility and reward of having won some very valuable points in the race on his home track, when the weekend had become something of a pain trial.
The practice sessions after the GP de Catalunya, held at the same place as the race, ended with a very pleased Andrea Dovizioso heading the leaderboard, something that will allow him to race in Holland full of confidence. He has been constantly improving so far this season and at the same time he has shown the consistency that has marked his whole career, and now the Repsol rider is getting closer and closer to being rewarded for all his efforts. And after seeing the improved bike in the Barcelona practice, his hopes are sky high in what will be the seventh race of the season.
In 125cc, the expectations of the Repsol riders are also very high, this is because the performance in the Barcelona race and the memory of the race 12 months ago, allow them to approach this GP with the realistic objective of getting a good result. One year ago the circuit of Assen saw an inspired Márquez with a chance of getting a good result, that was until rain interrupted the race and he fell when he was 6th.
His teammate back then, Esteve Rabat, was the rider who eventually occupied 6th position, but then just a few corners from the finish he was in the lead, after a final lap that left all his rivals trailing in his wake. But then a mistake did not let him taste the fruits of victory, his aim then is to make up for that disappointment. He will go with the hopes that the improvements found at the circuit de Catalunya, which let him ride much more comfortably, will let him finish higher up the classification.
For Scott Redding, the date in Holland is a chance to get back on the right track, where he had been in the previous few races, fighting in the leading group. Redding has already demonstrated that he is able to fight to get on the podium, and in Holland will get another chance to strengthen his position among the leaders. A little behind him is Cameron Beaubier who will go to the next race with different objectives, but with the same ambition. After almost winning points in Catalunya Beaubier goes to a circuit he discovered two years ago, and he will try to finish higher up and so get some more points for his collection.
Dani Pedrosa
“Since the race in Barcelona I’ve basically been resting, trying to give my hip as much chance to improve as possible. Obviously there hasn’t been a lot of time – just over one week – but I certainly feel a lot better now than immediately after the last race when I was totally exhausted. I’m feeling positive about the weekend and we’ll just have to see how it goes when riding starts on Thursday. My intention would be to ride without receiving any pain-killing injections because gradually they lose their effectiveness and they are not something I want to rely on – we’ll see how the feeling is when I start to ride. Assen is a track with good memories for me because I won my first GP here and I’ve had quite a few podiums here too. The recent changes where they shortened the circuit have removed some of its character but it still requires a lot of commitment to ride it well – especially through the fast direction changes where you need an agile machine set-up. The atmosphere is always special here because it’s such a historic place, so I’m looking forward to getting out on track again”.
Andrea Dovizioso
“I’ve been really looking forward to getting back on the bike since we left Catalunya last week. We had a positive test on the Monday after the Barcelona race and that, combined with the constant improvement we’ve been making race after race, means I’m very confident. So I’m look forward to getting back in the garage with the team, continuing to work on our machine package and to getting a good result in Assen. I’ve been really close the podium in the last three rounds and at the same time closing the time gap to the race winner, so I’m determined to get into the top three as soon as possible – hopefully this weekend. Assen is not actually one of my favourite tracks though. Since the layout modifications, the fascination of the circuit has been lost a little, but still I have good memories of last year’s race where I finished fifth after qualifying 11th. It’s a circuit of two sections – the first part is quite slow while the second part is more technically demanding – and the weather can also play its part in the Netherlands too. But whatever happens, I’m looking forward to another strong weekend for me and the team”.
Marc Márquez
“In Holland last year things went quite well for me. I was 6th until it rained and then I fell, but the important thing is that I managed to get some very good sensations. So now I hope that I can ride with confidence, above all after the GP de Catalunya where I went quite well. We will try to improve some more, with both me and the bike making progress. This is a circuit where acceleration is important, precisely the thing that perhaps we are most lacking, but I have a lot of confidence in the work that they are doing at KTM. This is a track that has a bit of everything, the first part is very slow, and the second is very fast; I like it a lot”.
Esteve Rabat
“I like the circuit of Assen a lot, becaue it has slow corners, others that are faster and the asphalt has good grip. Last year I almost won the race, I moved into the lead on the final lap but I made a mistake right at the end, so I hope to be up with the leaders again. I am really looking forward to it because I think I put in a good race at Montmeló, not so much for the result but because of the sensations I had riding the bike. We were able to understand some things on the bike and I am sure that this will help us do well in the next few races”.
Scott Redding
“I don`t know how the bike will react in Assen, but I quite like this circuit. I remember that it has a lot of bumps, the asphalt is quite old, so we will see how things go when we are there. You need a fast bike, but at the same time it has to be very agile because there are very tight corners and the final sector is very fast”.
Cameron Beaubier
“I like Assen a lot, it is a very pretty track. I was there two years ago in the Rookies Cup, and it rained in almost all the practice sessions, although the race was in the dry. I am dying to go there, start to ride and do some laps so as to get the hang of the circuit, because I am really still just a novice there. Here, with so many fast riders, you can follow one of them and get used to the speeds, because the pace of the rookies compared to that in 125cc is obviously quite different. Race after race we are improving and that is important, because all the times are very similar. If we take just another little step forward I think I can fight to win some points, and so that will be our objective”.
