Sunny weather (somewhat unusual but universally praised) welcomed the MotoGP field on the opening day of the Dutch TT at Assen, and with a favourable forecast continuing for the rest of the weekend, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa started their preparation for Sunday, working on the RC213V’s race setup.

After setting the fastest time in the morning, Marc continued his work on used tyres and wrapped up the day eighth fastest, just over 6 tenths off the top. In the afternoon, Dani improved his pace from FP1 and ended 11th fastest for the day, 0.126” behind his teammate.

Marc Marquez

8th 1'34.041

“All in all, the day was quite good because here in Assen we normally struggle, whereas today I felt good with the bike from the beginning and was able to keep a good rhythm. The bike was a bit unstable, but we improved that with the setup. In the afternoon, we worked a lot for the race, on hard tyres. It looks like everything is going in the correct direction, but at the same time it seems that everything is very tight this weekend. The weather is good, so everyone can prepare well for the race. Choosing the right tyres will be important, especially the rear. We have two very similar options, and that can lead to an advantage or a mistake. We have to choose well.”

Dani Pedrosa

11th 1'34.167

“As always, things are a bit difficult at this track, but some runs were better that others. Something we need to focus on is our performance with the soft tyre. Today we weren’t able to improve when we fitted it. Another area we need to address is the T4 sector of the track, where we want to perform better and be faster. For the rest, we’re getting on the rhythm and hopefully we’ll be able to exploit the good weather and take a step tomorrow.”

MotoGP 2018
Practice Round 8   Assen

Free Practice Classification

Sunny
Humidity
56%
Track Temp
42°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 31.504s (178.6km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022)
Race Lap 1m 32.500s (176.7km/h) Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia, 2022)
Race Time 40m 25.205s (175.2km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022)
2023 Race Winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)
2023 Sprint Winner Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati)