One last race before the mid-season Summer Break and both Pol Espargaro and Stefan Bradl know what they have to do this weekend.

Assen offers a radical change from the demands of the Sachsenring, the tight anti-clockwise German track making way for the fast and flowing Dutch circuit. Having held races since 1949, the TT Assen is steeped in history and has undergone several modifications throughout its life. The current circuit is characterised by a tight first sector which opens into a fast and flowing section before arriving at the infamous Geert Timmer Bocht chicane just before the finish line.

Pol Espargaro arrives at the Dutch race looking to put an end to his run of misfortune, having failed to score in the last three races. A combination of bad luck and injuries have plagued the #44 as of late as he and the Repsol Honda Team have continued to try and chase their early season form. Intense recovery work while at home has seen some improvements to his injured left ribs, but it looks set to be another physically demanding weekend racing just a week later. In the past, Espargaro has been a consistent point scorer in the Netherlands and finished tenth last year on the RC213V.

For Stefan Bradl, the last race before the Summer Break is a chance to put the pace he showed during German GP practice into action. Complications in the race made for a disappointing home GP for the German rider, but his adaptation to racing the RC213V is well and truly underway. This will be Bradl’s first time racing at the Dutch track in MotoGP since 2016, the first edition of the race held on Sunday, when he finished eighth. In WorldSBK, when racing there in 2017, he achieved his best overall result of the year – a sixth place finish.

The weather for the weekend is looking significantly cooler and potentially wetter than Germany last week.

Pol Espargaro

“I’ve had a few days at home doing everything I can to be prepared for the race this weekend, getting a lot of treatment on the ribs. There’s not much more that we could have done, so I am as ready as I can be. Assen is a really different track to Germany obviously, there’s a lot of fast changes of directions and you really need to have a bike that handles well. The objective is to get a good result before the Summer Break, we need to stop the run of bad races we have had.”

Stefan Bradl

“Assen gives us an opportunity to solve the problems we had in Germany. Before the race we were making some really good progress – especially with my riding. The objective for the weekend is to make another step in this direction, gain that last little bit of confidence and feeling when pushing for a super-fast lap. It has been a few years since I raced at Assen but I think we can get up to speed quickly there. I’m eager to have a strong weekend to go into the break with an extra bit of motivation.”

MotoGP 2022

Rider standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA 172 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
2 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA 138 Aprilia Racing Aprilia
3 Zarco Johann 5 FRA 111 Pramac Racing Ducati
4 Bastianini Enea 23 ITA 100 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati
5 Binder Brad 33 RSA 82 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
6 Bagnaia Francesco 62 ITA 81 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati
7 Miller Jack 43 AUS 81 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati
8 Rins Alex 42 SPA 69 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
9 Mir Joan 36 SPA 69 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
10 Oliveira Miguel 88 POR 64 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
11 Martin Jorge 89 SPA 61 Pramac Racing Ducati
12 Marquez Marc 93 SPA 60 Repsol Honda Team Honda
13 Marini Luca 10 ITA 52 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati
14 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA 46 Aprilia Racing Aprilia
15 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA 40 Repsol Honda Team Honda
16 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN 38 LCR Honda Honda
17 Bezzecchi Marco 73 ITA 35 Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati
18 Marquez Alex 73 SPA 26 LCR Honda Honda
19 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA 25 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
20 Di Giannantonio Fabio 49 ITA 16 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati
21 Binder Darryn 40 RSA 10 WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha
22 Dovizioso Andrea 4 ITA 10 WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha
23 Gardner Remy AUS 9
24 Fernandez Raul SPA 5
25 Bradl Stefan 6 GER 0 HRC Test Team Honda
26 Pirro Michele ITA 0
27 Savadori Lorenzo 32 ITA 0 Aprilia Racing Test Team Aprilia
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)