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Tag: Assen TT Circuit

  • Moto3 Mayhem: Rueda Victorious, Perrone Shines

    Moto3 Mayhem: Rueda Victorious, Perrone Shines

    In a race defined by chaos, comebacks and crashing contenders, Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) kept his cool to claim victory at the Dutch Grand Prix. The Championship leader outlasted the madness to finish ahead of David Muñoz (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) and Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Ajo), with the Argentine making history by taking his first Moto3™ podium — and the first for Argentina since Gabriel Rodrigo at Mugello in 2021.

    Photo credit: Pirelli Press office

    Early drama strikes the grid
    It was Rueda’s teammate Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo), who grabbed the holeshot from pole, while Rueda slotted into second. Behind, trouble brewed immediately as Guido Pini (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) stalled from seventh. He was thankfully avoided but retired from of the race.

    Lap 2 brought even more chaos. David Almansa (Leopard Racing) lunged at Rueda at Turn 8 and collided with him, while Carpe, caught in the aftermath, lost momentum and tumbled to 15th. Then, on Lap 4, Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) and Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) made contact at the final chicane, both losing ground but continuing.

    The race explodes at half distance
    Rueda led until Lap 9 before being passed by a charging Maximo Quiles, whose aggression shook up the lead group. Ryusei Yamanaka (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) and Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) joined the front pack as Rueda briefly slipped to seventh, regrouping just ahead of Perrone.

    Lap 15 saw full elbows-out racing. Almansa muscled into the lead but Quiles hit back at Turn 9. A lap later, Carpe’s stunning recovery peaked as he surged to the front after diving past Almansa at Turn 10.

    Photo credit: Pirelli Press office

    Final laps deliver fireworks
    With three laps to go, everything unravelled. Quiles crashed out at Turn 10. Moments later, Perrone barged Almansa wide at Turn 15, sending the Leopard rider back to 13th. As the group fractured, Rueda and Carpe were back in the fight at the perfect moment.

    But even more carnage followed — a big crash involving Furusato, Fernandez, and Luca Lunetta (Sic58 Squadra Corse) at the end of Lap 18 brought out the red flag. With results taken back to the last completed lap, Rueda was declared the winner, just ahead of Muñoz and a jubilant Perrone. Injury update: At the time of writing it is understood that Lunetta has multiple leg fractures which he sustained when Fernandez clipped him while on the ground.

    The rest of the top ten
    Carpe came home fourth after a rollercoaster ride, while Piqueras fought back to fifth from P16 on the grid. Despite being pushed wide late in the race, Almansa recovered to sixth. Scott Ogden secured a season-best seventh place, ahead of Dennis Foggia (CFMoto Gaviota Aspar Team), Joel Kelso (LevelUp-MTA), and Marcos Uriarte (LevelUp-MTA), who celebrated a first top ten finish.

    🇳🇱 Moto3™ – Dutch GP: Final Classification (Top 15)

    TT Circuit Assen | Red flag – results taken at end of Lap 18

    Pos Rider Team Time/Gap Points
    1 Jose Antonio Rueda Red Bull KTM Ajo 32:12.319 25
    2 David Muñoz LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP +0.144 20
    3 Valentin Perrone Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.245 16
    4 Alvaro Carpe Red Bull KTM Ajo +1.087 13
    5 Angel Piqueras FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI +1.296 11
    6 David Almansa Leopard Racing +2.083 10
    7 Scott Ogden CIP Green Power +2.234 9
    8 Dennis Foggia CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team +5.034 8
    9 Joel Kelso LEVELUP-MTA +5.755 7
    10 Marcos Uriarte LEVELUP-MTA +6.318 6
    11 Ryusei Yamanaka FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI +7.002 5
    12 Jacob Roulstone Red Bull KTM Tech3 +8.555 4
    13 Stefano Nepa SIC58 Squadra Corse +12.395 3
    14 Riccardo Rossi Rivacold Snipers Team +12.675 2
    15 Maximo Quiles CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team +24.394 1

    Title photo credit: Pirelli Press office

  • WorldSBK: Locatelli takes maiden win amid double Bulega retirement

    WorldSBK: Locatelli takes maiden win amid double Bulega retirement

    Andrea Locatelli inherited a first WorldSBK victory in Assen after the frighteningly fast Nicolo Bulega suffered mechanical problems in both the Tissot Superpole and Race 2 to leave the championship leader pointless on Sunday at the Pirelli Dutch Round.

    TISSOT SUPERPOLE RACE

    Rain was falling as expected on Sunday morning at the TT Circuit Assen, with the warmup and Tissot Superpole being a wet affair for the WorldSBK riders.  With the qualifying session on Saturday also setting the grid for the Superpole race, Sam Lowes had a second shot at converting his maiden pole position while Razgatiloglu and Axel Bassani were not affected by any grid penalties unlike in Race 1 yesterday.

    As the sun started to break through the clouds by the 11am race start time, Bulega once again shot from second into the race lead ahead of Lowes as he had done in the first race on the previous day.  Lowes fell to ninth by running wide at turn 1 in the tricky conditions, which left Razgatlioglu to chase Bulega for the race lead.

    Andrea Iannone did well at the start to jump into third, a place that he eventually lost to his fellow Andrea – Locatelli – who had taken an impressive second place the day before.  Things only got worse for Iannone, who ran wide then later crashed his satellite Go Eleven Ducati bike.

    Razgatlioglu made a move on Bulega for the lead at turn 5 on the 2nd lap.  The gap between the top two in the race and the championship ballooned to almost one second by the end of the lap as the BMW rider best adapted to the tricky conditions.

    Lowes began to recover from his off at the start and made it back to the podium by the end of the 10-lap affair.  The marcVDS Ducati rider had to try twice on the same lap to get past Alvaro Bautista’s factory bike, and then easily inherited second when Bulega ran wide at turn 1.

    As it transpired, Bulega had an issue with his Ducati Panigale V4R that dropped him out of contention.  The results from the top nine in the Tissot Superpole Race determine the starting grid for Race 2, from which the championship leader would have to start from 10th place.

    With Razgatlioglu, Lowes and Bautista coming home on the podium, home hero Michael van der Mark tried valiantly to take P4 from Locatelli but came up short.  Scott Redding had a respectable ride to 6th after passing Remy Gardner in the closing stages.

    Yari Montella and Tarran McKenzie also did well in the wet to start race 2 from row 3.  With Bulega mired on row 4 and Razgatlioglu taking a chunk of points from his rival with his 12 points for the win, it set up a fascinating final race in the afternoon.

    TISSOT SUPERPOLE RACE RESULTS

    Image Credit: WorldSBK

     

    RACE 2

    With Bulega stuck in 10th place for the start of the 21-lap Sunday afternoon race, his rivals ahead knew that there was a real chance to capitalise on the championship leader coming from so far back.  Razgatlioglu and his BMW team opted to use hard tyres to give himself more grip for the end of the race when the inevitable pace of Bulega would come to haunt him, or at least that was the thinking…

    The hard tyres simply never worked for Razgatlioglu as Bulega predictably deployed his superior pace to methodically work his way towards the front of the grid. Once again Sam Lowes had a difficult start from the front row, while Bautista passed Razgatlioglu for the initial lead.

    The race developed into a train of the top 7 bikes by about ¼ distance, with Bulega at the back of the pack having risen calmly from 10th.  Locatelli had swooped past Razgatlioglu on the 2nd lap, while Remy Gardner had a thrilling start to run as high as 2nd himself.

    As Locatelli and Gardner fought tooth and nail for P2, Razgatlioglu continued to fall down the order.  After Locatelli had finally dealt with Gardner to cement 2nd on lap 7, the Yamaha rider had enough pace to reel in Bautista for the race lead.

    Once Locatelli had passed Bautista, Bulega was ready to seize on his teammate and then overtook Locatelli for the lead at the halfway point.  That was the last anyone saw of Bulega until it all went wrong for the second time in one day.

    While Bulega stretched his lead the race settled down with Locatelli, Bautista, Gardner, Lowes, Bassani and Razgatlioglu the order.  Then Bulega tragically retired once again with just 2 laps to go after such a stunning ride in Assen that went unrewarded.

    Locatelli was left to inherit his first victory in the Superbike World Championship after a record 154 winless attempts.  Meanwhile, a frustrated Razgatlioglu lost a further two spots at the end to Alex Lowes and Iker Lecuona to fall to eighth in a race where he could have taken up to 25 points out of the championship leader.

    RACE 2 RESULTS

    Image Credit: WorldSBK

    Feature Image Credit: Ducati

  • MotoGP: Bagnaia Takes Dominant Win as Podium Changes After Flag for DutchGP

    MotoGP: Bagnaia Takes Dominant Win as Podium Changes After Flag for DutchGP

    In the last race before the 5-week summer break, the iconic Assen TT circuit has given us another brilliant race with difficult conditions and a close field to overcome.

    Pecco Bagnaia has mastered the tricky, hot track conditions at the DutchGP to take a truly dominant victory. He led almost every lap of the race on his way to extending his championship lead.

    After his brilliant pole positions and sprint race win, Marco Bezzecchi was thrilled with another podium today as he came home in 2nd place. He dropped back to 3rd at the race start, giving himself the challenge of fighting with Brad Binder for 2nd.

    It was Binder who crossed the line in 3rd but, after a dramatic post-flag penalty for exceeding track limits, he was demoted to 4th. Replays showed that the South African touched the green part of the kerb with a fraction of his front tire – however, this was enough to set off the sensors and land him a penalty. He will feel very hard done by after facing the same fate in yesterday’s sprint race – It was the same kerb at the same part of the race that saw him miss out on a podium.

    This meant that Aleix Espargraro was promoted to the 3rd place after a really positive race for the Aprilia rider. This is his first podium of the year – a surprise to many after his very strong showing at pre-season testing. He will be hoping to carry this momentum through the summer break and on to Silverstone in 5 weeks time. It was an impressive run for Espgararo who was nursing an injured bike after contact with Luca Marini’s rear tire at the start of the race.

    Image Credit: MotoGP

    It was a much more difficult day for Jack Miller, celebrating his 200th race, and Johann Zarco, celebrating his 250th race. Miller was the first rider to go down on lap 2, followed by Zarco, who was taken out by Fabio Quartararo on lap 3.

    In the end, we only had 14 riders complete the full 26 lap race thanks to a number of riders falling victim to the 50-degree track temperatures and the numerous issues this caused.

    As It Happened

    As the riders made their way on to the grid, we were able to see their tire choices and how the riders were aiming to tackle the undoubtedly hot and greasy track conditions – tires were always going to prove crucial today. All riders, except two, were on the hard front tires. Half the grid then opted for a soft rear tire, the other half opting for a medium rear. Most notably were Brad Binder and Jack Miller who had opted for that soft rear – it looked as though they were aimed for a strong start to the race with that choice.

    The lights went out and, as anticipated, there was quickly a lot of action up and down the grid. Polesitter, Marco Bezzecchi was swallowed by the chasing pack and quickly dropped down to 3rd. Binder, in typical Binder fashion, had a flying start. He saw a small gap on the inside of turn 1 and made a very late move, throwing his bike up and into the lead.

    Further back, Jack Miller was sitting in 8th and hunting down Maverick Vinales in 7th. He then made a move on the start-finish straight at the start of lap 2. However, as Vinales tried to retake the position, Miller lost the bike under him slid out into the gravel at turn 1. Thanks to this clear air, Vinales was able to then take fastest lap.

    It wasn’t long before the next incident and on lap 3, Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco went down at turn 7- the fastest part of the track. The replays showed that the front of Quartararo’s bike folded underneath him and he collected Zarco as he went down. It was clearly a huge impact for both riders, who looked battered and bruised. Quartararo was then helped out of the gravel as he limped away.

    It was on the same lap that Pecco Bagnaia stole the lead away from Binder.

    One more lap later, it was Vinales’ turn to go down. He was making moves up the field but sadly went down at turn 8. That’s four riders going down across 3 laps!

    All these incidents helped to promote Jorge Martin, Miguel Oliveira and Alex Marquez who were running in 6th, 7th and 8th respectively. There was now a huge battle for 5th place, with 6 riders all in the fight. On lap 6, Luca Marini, who had been leading this pack, fell back from 5th to 10th in the space on one corner. This meant that Aleix Espargaro, running in a comfortable 4th, was gifted a 2.5s gap over this fighting group.

    On lap 7, Enea Bastianini crashed out at turn 5 whilst running in 8th – he tried to get the bike back up and running again but it was a lost cause as the flames started to appear at the back of the Ducati machine.

    At the midpoint of the race, we still had Bagnaia leading the field, with Binder hot on his tail in 2nd. Binder was able to gain a huge amount on the leader in every breaking zone, but wasn’t able to convert this into a move for the lead.

    Everything across the field seemed to calm down as we drew ever closer to the chequered flag. The biggest drama came when Oliveira, running in 10th, made a mistake at turn 15. He then retired a lap later, suggesting it was a mechanical issue. A few laps later, we then had Iker Lecuona drop to the back of the field before also retiring with a mechanical issue. Lecuona is here this weekend to stand in for the injured Joan Mir.

    With the laps ticking down now, Bezzecchi decided now was the time to make a move and lay down his intentions to win. On lap 17 of 26, he made a move on Binder, who tried hard to counter this. This battle then gave a 1.2s lead for Bagnaia.

    Bezzecchi, now in 2nd and with some clean air in front of him, was gaining between 0.3s and 0.4s per lap on Bagnaia and looked like he might be making a late move for the victory.

    After losing 2nd place, Binder was now in 3rd and falling back in to the clutches of Espargaro who was desperately seeking his first podium of the year.

    There were gaps forming between most riders on the grid now and it appeared that the hot track conditions were hampering everyone from making late moves.

    This meant that nothing changed on the track and Bagnaia took the chequered flag, ahead of Bezzcchi and Binder. Espargaro came home in 4th, but would soon be promoted to 3rd after Binder’s last lap penalty for track limits.

    Jorge Martin, despite a difficult weekend where he seemed to be quite off the pace, came home in 5th. He was just ahead of Alex Marquez in 6th, Luca Marini in 7th and Takaaki Nakagami in 8th. Rounding out the top 10 were Franco Morbidelli in 9th and Augusto Fernandez in 10th.

    Full Results
    1 Pecco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo
    2 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46
    3 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia
    4 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM
    5 Jorge Martin Prima Pramac
    6 Alex Marquez Gresini Racing
    7 Luca Marini Mooney VR46
    8 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda
    9 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha
    10 Augusto Fernandez GASGAS Tech3
    11 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia
    12 Raul Fernandez CryptoDATA RNF
    13 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda
    14 Jonas Folger GASGAS Tech3
    Championship Standings
    1 Pecco Bagnaia 194 points
    2 Jorge Martin 159 points
    3 Marco Bezzecchi 158 points
    4 Brad Binder 114 points
    5 Johann Zarco 109 points

    Feature Image Credit: MotoGP