There were mixed feelings for the Repsol Honda men on a cloudy-but-dry opening day of the Dutch TT in Assen, with Marc Marquez finishing in a close third position, while Dani Pedrosa ended up 11th.

In the morning, each of the teammates spent the whole session on just one set of tyres, aiming to find the best setting choices for his bike. Marc managed to sort out a few solutions that helped in the afternoon, when he was able to constantly lap at the front; he set a very good pace from the beginning and ultimately closed the day just over one tenth from the top.

Dani struggled to find his pace at the beginning of FP2, and although he managed to complete a more positive last run in the end and to reduce his gap to the front to just 0.615s, he wasn’t able to improve as much as he had hoped.

Marc Marquez

3rd

“In the first free-practice session, we found things a little demanding and I wasn't able to ride as comfortably as usual, but we remained very focused and worked hard to look for a solution for the afternoon. So, the important thing from today is that the changes we made worked well in the second session, and I was able to set a good pace. We were amongst the top riders throughout the session, but we were also testing a lot of things that I think will help us tomorrow. Here, the track conditions change every time you go out, so we’ll work to try to continue improving, as the times are always very close.”

Dani Pedrosa

11th

“It’s been a very challenging first day because we had some difficulties with stability during both practice sessions. So far, we’ve failed to improve with the changes of tyres and setup that we tried. With such changeable weather, we didn’t want to take the risk of trying too many things, and it was a shame to have these difficulties on a day like today, with everybody’s lap times so tight. Nevertheless, we’ll stay positive; tomorrow we’ll try to take a step forward and get into the top 10 in the last free-practice session in order to gain confidence ahead of qualifying.”

MotoGP 2016
Practice Round 8   Assen

Results Session

Cloudy
Humidity
67%
Track Temp
34°C
Air Temp
23°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
Location Information

Assen is the only venue to have held a round of the Motorcycle World Championship every year since its creation in 1949. The circuit was purpose built for the Dutch TT in 1955, with previous events having been held on public roads. The track is narrow, with rapid changes in… read more.

Length 4.542 kilometres / 2.822 miles
Width 14 metres
Left corners 6
Right corners 12
Longest straight 0.487 kilometres / 0.303 miles
Constructed 1955
Modified 2012

TT Circuit Assen, De Haar, Assen, The Netherlands - View in Google Maps

www.ttcircuit.com

Records

Pole Position 1m 30.540s (180.5km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2024)
Race Lap 1m 31.866s (177.9km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2024)
Race Time 40m 07.214s (176.6km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2024)
2024 Race Winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)
2024 Sprint Winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)