The 70th visit of the World Championship to the Dutch circuit of Assen TT is going to be remembered as one of the best of all times, and surely the best in recent years! Marc Marquez got the win after a six rider battle, consolidating his championship lead.
The MotoGP race in Assen was a great show for the fans, and also for the riders alike. The fans saw no less than 100 overtakes during the race, and most of those were in the leading group composed by Marc Marquez, Maverick Viñales, Andrea Dovizioso, Alex Rins, Valentino Rossi, Cal Crutchlow and Jorge Lorenzo.
In almost every corner we saw a change in positions in this leading group, with the lead passing from Marc Marquez to Jorge Lorenzo, and then to Valentino Rossi, followed by Maverick Viñales. It was as close as they could get, and I many situations riders were four side by side, trying to out brake each other and get in front.
There was also a lot of drama: Alex Rins tried to get the lead from Marquez at one point but the two almost touched, with Marquez pulling another of his fantastic saves and continuing the race as nothing had happened, and then it was time for another Lorenzo and Rossi clash, with Lorenzo suffering a big moment and Rossi, unable to avoid him, touched his bikes rear. Both of them managed to stay on the bikes after the 200 km/h clash!
In the end it was Marc Marquez who managed to get away from the pack and guarantee his fourth win of the season, with Suzuki rider Alex Rins securing a well-deserved second place closely followed by Maverick Viñales who got the Yamaha on the MotoGP podium again.
As for Hafizh Syahrin, the MotoGP rookie and Malaysian star didn’t manage to get points this time around. In his first ever MotoGP race at Assen, Syahrin showed good pace during practices and on qualifying he almost got into Q2. In the race, the Tech3 rider didn’t choose the best line coming to turn 1, and lost a lot of places.
In the middle of the race he also suffered with a bad front tyre, and that made his mission even more difficult.
In the final stages of the race Hafizh Syahrin had to battle it out with another rookie, Takaaki Nakagami, and eventually won that fight thanks to a penalty of his opponent, closing the Dutch race in 18th.
“I’m really sorry to my team! In the beginning of the race I had a good pace behind Dani Pedrosa. I had a good start, but the entry to the first corner was too tight and I didn’t pick the best line into it. Many riders passed me from the outside, so I tried to keep the pace and felt good. But suddenly after lap 10 I felt that my front tyre was dropping, I couldn’t brake really hard anymore and was not able to keep the good pace, which was maybe down to my tyre choice. In the end I can only try to learn from this. We know that we could fight for the points and something better than this position. I try to work hard and want to improve with this experience”, said Hafizh Syahrin after the race.
In the championship standings, Marc Marquez leads with a 41 points advantage over Valentino Rossi, with Maverick Viñales in third six points behind his teammate. Hafizh Syahrin keeps his 17th position, two points behind Franc Morbidelli in the fight for the best MotoGP rookie.
In Moto2, Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) strolled to a comfortable fourth victory of the season at Assen after leading from start to finish, eventually taking the checkered flag 1.748 seconds ahead the chasing pack.
Catalan GP race winner Fabio Quartararo (Lightech – Speed Up Racing) produced a stunning fight back through the pack to secure his second consecutive podium in P2, beating third place Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) to the line.
As for Malaysian Khairul Idham Pawi (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), he finished the race in 19th position, but was involved in a fight that could have got him as high as 14th.
In the Moto2 championship standings it’s Francesco Bagnaia who gets away in the lead with 144 points, followed by Miguel Oliveira with 128 and Alex Marquez with 110.
In Moto3, Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) has become the first to win a Moto3 race at the TT Circuit Assen from pole position, breaking the jinx in style to fight it out at the front before pulling the pin to perfection.
The Spaniard crossed the line nearly seven tenths clear of a duel to the line between second-placed Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and P3 finisher Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing), and the 25 points see Martin take back the top of the Championship after late drama for former points leader Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP) as the Italian crashed out of contention on the final lap.
Malaysian Adam Norrodin (Petronas Sprinta Racing) finished what was a bad weekend for him with a 21st position in the Moto3 race.