LORENZO LEADS CHAMPIONSHIP TO HISTORIC ASSEN FOR 80TH TT Having barely had time to catch their collective breath after Jorge Lorenzo’s brilliant MotoGP win at Silverstone in the UK yesterday, the Fiat Yamaha Team arrives at Assen in the Netherlands today to set-up for the Dutch TT, which celebrates its 80th Anniversary this weekend. As tradition dictates the race is always held on the last Saturday in June, after which the paddock heads directly to Barcelona for the third race in this punishing triple-header. Once again the team will be missing Valentino Rossi, with the Italian now entering his third week of recuperation at home in Italy following his accident at Mugello. Lorenzo however is doing a superb job of steering the ship single-handedly and he now holds a 37-point lead in the championship over Andrea Dovizioso. Three wins and two second places from just five races is impressive even when compared to Rossi’s soaring standards and the imperious way in which the young Mallorcan won on Sunday is proof that he is running at the top of his game as the season heats up. The 23-year-old finished a strong second to his team-mate at Assen last year and has two 250cc and one 125cc wins there to his name as well, claiming it as one of his favourite tracks. Assen has long been thought of as a somewhat magical track in the minds of Grand Prix racers and it remains a popular destination today, despite undergoing some drastic alterations a few years ago. It is still one of the most physically demanding circuits on the calendar and, with its constant twists and turns, is also one of the most technical. It was originally based around the public roads and the camber changes in some places still reflect that. These, added to the high-speed chicanes, traditionally favour the nimble Yamaha M1. The 80th Anniversary of TT racing at the track is the 62nd time it has formed a part of the Grand Prix World Championship and it remains the only track on the calendar that has held a race every year since the Championship’s inception. Jorge Lorenzo “MY FAVOURITE TRACK” “We have started this run of three races in a row as perfectly as we could have wished and Silverstone was a great race and very important for the championship. But now we move on and we just have to try to continue in the same way. Next we arrive at Assen, my favourite track, and once again we’re aiming for the podium. The team is working very well together and now we will just concentrate on trying to improve the M1 even more; it’s important to keep growing. I’ve won at Assen in 125 and 250 so I’d really like to try to win in MotoGP!” Wilco Zeelenberg “WE CANNOT RELAX” “Jorge likes Assen a lot and he and our whole team are going there feeling very strong. We have no worries with the bike and a comfortable cushion in the championship. That said we cannot relax and Jorge must stay focused at this busy time of the championship, which I am sure he will. Of course the weather is always a question in Assen but we were lucky in Silverstone so hopefully we will find the same in Holland.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: MotoGP and Moto2 preview Dutch TT, Assen June 24/25/26 2010 HONDA RIDERS READY FOR DUTCH TREAT Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) return to the Netherlands for the Dutch TT on the legendary Circuit van Drenthe where they’ll work to continue Honda’s impressive record of a podium finish in every grand prix of the 2010 MotoGP season as it now heads into its most intense stretch. A change of venues didn’t bother Dovizioso in England. One year after his breakthrough win in the rain-hit British Grand Prix at Donington Park, Dovizioso scored a brilliant second place in the first British GP at Silverstone since 1986. The Italian swapped second with fellow Honda rider Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) for the first 10 of 20 laps before seizing the position for good on lap 11. Once in second, Dovizioso became the rabbit for a pack of riders that would number five as the race entered the crucial final few laps. The 24-year-old Italian came under direct attack from Nicky Hayden (Ducati) on the final lap, but Dovi brushed off the move and sped to second. With his fourth podium in five races, Dovizioso was promoted into second in the championship standings behind race winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). Now he heads to Assen “motivated and confident” and hopeful of taking another step forward in the constant development of the Honda RC212V. Team-mate Pedrosa is now third in the championship after a difficult weekend which he’ll put behind by the time practice begins on Thursday for Saturday’s race, the only Saturday race on the calendar. It’s also the second of three races on consecutive weekends. And, after a one week break, the series continues with two more back-to-back races, in Germany and the U.S., making five races in six weeks on two continents. Pedrosa, who’d scored a dominant win at Mugello prior to Silverstone, started quickly in England, but was frustrated to find he couldn’t keep pace with the leaders. From the start of the race he suffered from a lack of rear traction on the track surface, which was a relatively cool 29C. Though he didn’t achieve the finish he’d hoped for, Pedrosa came away content that a pair of crashes hadn’t affected his race pace. Having finished third and second in Assen, Pedrosa will be looking to climb to the top step of the podium and feels that the Honda RC212V is well suited to Assen. He said that it was “a circuit which requires an agile machine because there are several fast direction changes – as there are at Mugello – so it would be nice if we get another result like in Italy.” De Puniet continues to impress in what is his best season to date. The LCR Honda rider put his Honda RC212V into the mix with the factory riders in Silverstone and will be looking for more of the same in Holland. The Frenchman likes the flowing nature of the 4.555kms track, which he believes has a number of corners that have the same feel as the best of Silverstone. With five races run, de Puniet is the highest placed non-factory rider, currently sixth in the points standings. Team-mates Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) arrive in Holland after divergent fortunes in the United Kingdom. Melandri was off to a flying start when he fell on the first lap, an outcome he’s happy to be able to so quickly brush off. Simoncelli was in the thick of the battle for second until the final few laps when he secured seventh place, his best MotoGP finish to date and the fourth race in a row where he’d improved his finishing position. Assen will be yet another circuit that the class rookie will be seeing for the first time from the saddle of a MotoGP machine, but his ability to adapt quickly on a track where he’s finished on the podium the past two years should serve him well. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) will miss the Dutch TT after suffering a fracture of the T12 vertebra in a vicious high-side in the Silverstone Sunday morning warm-up. Following a preliminary examination at the track’s medical center, the decision was made to transfer Aoyama to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. The Japanese rider is expected to return to his European base in Barcelona on Tuesday to get a second opinion. Only then will a course of action for his rehabilitation and date for his return to racing be determined. Further updates are expected in the coming days. The Moto2 World Championship produced the tightest racing of its short existence at Silverstone. The class, which features control Honda engines in prototype frames, was designed for close racing and none was closer than Silverstone’s. First to fourth was separated by only .520s with the margin of victory a scant .057s. And fifth through eighth was covered by only .438s. Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing Suter) took his first win in a race that had eight lead changes at the line, the final one coming on the last lap. Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2) made a mistake while defending his lead on lap 18 with Cluzel taking advantage and becoming the fourth different winner in five races. Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar, Suter) was third, with Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Suter) a shadow fourth. Cluzel’s teammate Claudio Corti, one of five race leaders, crashed out of second on the penultimate lap. Championship leader Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) had a season worst finish at Silverstone, finishing 10th after qualifying 18th. Still, on the strength of his two wins, in Jerez and Le Mans, he maintains the championship lead with 80 points to 65 for Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter). Elias believes dry track time is paramount at Assen, so he and the team can find the optimal settings for the sixth race of the year. Tomizawa, the winner of the first ever Moto2 race in Qatar, did well to finish sixth and in the thick of the four rider battle for fifth. The Japanese rider lost valuable practice and qualifying time with a pair of crashes, which are especially damaging because class rules mandate the use of only one motorcycle. This will be only his second visit to Assen and he also knows he’ll have to maximize his track time, which means no crashes. Luthi’s second in Silverstone, his best finish of the year, kept him third in the championship with 58 points. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125) is determined to finish in the points for the third time this season. One key to that is qualifying. In Silverstone he was 20th on the grid and wasn’t able to mount a sustained challenge for a points-paying position. But on track he knows well and likes, the German believes he can add to his championship tally. The 2010 running of the Dutch TT is the 62nd at the only circuit to host a grand prix since the birth of the World Championships in 1949. Assen was always known as ‘The Cathedral,’ a flowing, high-speed track that demanded concentration to link the various corners and bravery into the final chicane where races were often decided in full view of the always packed main grandstands. The track has been gradually shortened and the most recent changes, in 2006, took away some of the circuit’s personality, though the final section and chicane remain. Adding to the Dutch experience is the unpredictable weather. It will almost certainly rain at some point on the weekend, though the track drains well, which makes for exciting wet weather racing. European marques won every race from 1949 to 1965 before Honda’s breakthrough win in 1965 with the legendary Jim Redman. A year later Mike “The Bike” Hailwood won the last of his four Assen titles, and first on a Honda, by beating the great Giacomo Agostini on the 7.704kms layout. Randy Mamola gave Honda their next two victories, in 1984 and ’85 on the now 6.134kms circuit. World Champions Wayne Gardner, Alex Criville, Mick Doohan, Valentino Rossi, and Nicky Hayden have also won for Honda in Assen, along with several others, including Tady Okada, Sete Gibernau, and Alex Barros. From 1984 through 2009, Honda is the wins leader with 15, by far the most of any manufacturer. Hayden’s 2006 victory came on the 4.555kms track, shortened from 5.997kms the previous year. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) says: “We go to Assen very motivated. After the second place in Silverstone on a new track, we look forward to race on the historical track of Assen. It’s not one track that I particularly like after the modifications, but we feel strong and we will be strong also there. The characteristics of the circuit are not so favourable for us, because it has a lot of corners with high speed, but we are really confident and we look forward to do another step forward. We are improving race after race, so I’m happy and we will work hard to be faster and be able to fight for the win.” Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) says: “It’s good that we are going to Assen straight after Silverstone because it gives me and the team an early opportunity to put the last race behind us and work towards another strong result like we had at Mugello. We will learn from what happened at the British Grand Prix and then move on. It’s fortunate that I’m not hurt after Silverstone and I’m confident we can get right back on the pace this weekend. Assen is a good track – even if it was better before they changed it a few years ago – and I like riding there. It’s a circuit which requires an agile machine because there are several fast direction changes – as there are at Mugello – so it would be nice if we get another result like in Italy. The team is working really hard and I’m confident we can make a good start in first practice at Assen and have a competitive weekend. The crowds and the history create a special atmosphere at Assen so I’m looking forward to getting out on track again.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) says: “I like the Assen circuit very much as it is a floating track and suits my riding style; some corners are the same as the Silverstone track. Last year I finished seventh, but I presume we can get a better result this year because I can rely on my machine. Assen could be another good track for us to maintain the sixth position in the classification.” Marco Melandri (San Carlo Gresini Honda) says: “I feel much more confident going to Assen than I have done about the past few races. We had a great weekend at Silverstone up until a small mistake in the race. Finally on the Sunday morning at Mugello we found a better base setting to work from and I am sure we are going to be more competitive in the upcoming races so I’m happy. My opinion of Assen is that they spoiled it in 2005 and I don’t like it as much, but they have made the corner around the back of the paddock faster now so I prefer it. After the first three turns the track is quite flowing so it should be a place that suits our bike well.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Gresini Honda) says: “I’m starting to feel really good on the bike and I hope to continue with this progression. I have a seventh place finish under my belt and I am finding the right level of confidence with the bike. What I need to do now is be more consistent when the tyre performance drops over the last few laps but overall things are looking positive. Assen is a circuit I like and I hope I can improve on my result from Silverstone and take another leap forward. My past results at the Dutch TT haven’t been brilliant I remember I was leading one year in 125 and crashed on the last lap after touching with Luthi and was third for the past couple of years in 250. However, as I said it’s a circuit I like so I hope to have a good race there. Apart from the first hairpin it should suit the Honda so I am confident.” Moto2 Rider Quotes Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2 Moriwaki) says: “The last two races have been very difficult for us, so we must keep working to find a solution to our problems when we get to Assen. I like the track, it’s great, but not as great as it was before they made the big change a couple of years ago. I’ve won there in 125 and finished on the podium in 250s, so we need to work hard to get back on the podium again this weekend. There is no specific set-up problem we are having, it is just getting the package to work for me at some tracks. I know the team has the potential to get me back on top; I just hope the weather stays dry throughout the weekend, so we can get plenty of track time.” Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP Suter) says: “I like Assen, but last year was my first time there and it is a difficult track to learn, so I still haven’t mastered it. I will have more learning to do when we get there, so the main thing to do will be to stay calm, do many laps and try not to crash. My crash during Saturday morning practice at Silverstone showed how a fall can complicate your weekend, especially when we are only allowed one bike. My team had to replace the chassis and swingarm in time for qualifying, then we had a small brake problem at the start of qualifying, which caused me to fall again, though this time at slow speed. So, the plan for Assen is to stay cool and work hard toward the race.” Tom Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2 Team) says: “The TT Assen is a very nice track that I like. I am looking forward to Assen. It is not easy, as we have had to pack everything very quick and get quickly to Assen as the race is in not even a week’s time. The Silverstone podium was the perfect motivation for the next race and I will take that experience with me.” Honda 125cc Rider Quotes. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) says: “I have already been in Assen. It is a great track and I am looking forward to race there in the world championship. I want to try to get better practice and qualifying results in Assen, as to start from the 20th position doesn’t help much in the race. I just want to be better from the beginning.”