It’s time to delve into some of the hot topics that surfaced from the 2023 Motul TT Assen
We’re never short of talking points in MotoGP™ and the Motul TT Assen was no exception. Here’s a few topics we’ve picked out for you to delve into:
Brad Binder: “I don’t know what I was doing”
Two podiums went astray for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider – both for the same offence at the same corner! Binder had this to say on Sunday afternoon after Turn 8 had struck twice at Assen.
“I saw a replay and was like, ‘f***'” – Binder 25/06/2023
It was Turn 8, last lap heartbreak for the #33 & KTM again in Assen as Binder reveals when he realised track limits came back to haunt him
“I think we did a good job today – until the last lap. And for that I’m extremely, extremely sorry to my team because I took away two podiums for them. They’ve done a great job, put in a huge effort and I’m sorry to mess it up like that for them.
“Again on the last lap. I didn’t know I’d even touched it. And then we went to turn one and Aleix was pointing at the green and I didn’t know. I was just like whatever. Then I saw the TV and I was like, how did I do that again? Anyway, it’s it is what it is. It’s the rules. I touched it by maybe a couple of millimetres again. But end of story pretty much.”
Aleix Espargaro: “I know how hard has been for him”
One of the best sights of the weekend was seeing Pol Espargaro (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3) back in the paddock for the first time since Portimao. Here’s what his older brother, Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), had to say about the #44’s return.
“It’s been very emotional to have Pol on the grid. It’s not a place where I want to see him. I want to see him in the bike, fighting with him. But when I saw him coming into the grid, for me it was very emotional. I know how hard has been for him, not physically because physically, he has a lot of injuries, but I mean it’s part of the game. We know it.
Pol Espargaro: “After the 3 months I’ve had I feel amazing” 24/06/2023
Go behind-the-scenes in the GASGAS Tech3 box and hear from the #44 as he returns to the paddock for the first time since Portimao
“But mentally to be out a lot of weeks, a lot of days and doesn’t know when he was able to come back. It’s not easy. So I’m very happy for him that he’s here, that everybody in GASGAS receives him as he deserves.
“As a brother, I’m very happy for this weekend for him. Actually, he didn’t want to come. He’s here for me. Now I can say. I push a lot the last two weeks for him to come, and finally he said ‘OK, I will come just on Saturday’. I said, ‘OK, Saturday is good enough, but everybody wants to see you’.
“Because when you are at home, it’s difficult for you the journalists, and also for his team to understand how he was. But he’s good. He’s fine. He’s ready to be back. So I think he had to come here and prove that. And I’m very happy.”
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) arrived in Assen off the back of five crashes at the German GP – the final one in Warm Up causing the eight-time World Champion to suffer ankle, thumb and rib injuries.
Following two more crashes and a sleepless night on Saturday, Marquez was declared unfit for Sunday’s race. Listen to what the Spaniard had to say about his current situation in the link above.
WATCH: Marc Marquez crashes after contact with Bastianini 24/06/2023
The eight-time World Champion went down after running into the back of the Italian’s Ducati in a bizarre Dutch GP Q1 incident
On the same topic, Repsol Honda Team Manager Alberto Puig spoke openly about Marquez’s latest setback and how bad of a scenario Honda currently find themselves in.
Marco Bezzecchi: “Now to be here, fighting for podiums, victories, it’s amazing”
It was so close to being a perfect weekend at The Cathedral of Speed for Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team). Pole position and a Tissot Sprint win came on Saturday, before the Italian finished a close second to Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) on Sunday.
Post-race, Bezzecchi spoke about his love affair with Assen and the history he has at the circuit when he used to come and support Valentino Rossi with his parents.
“At this track I had very good memories, aside from the result from last year. Also when I was very young, my mum and my dad were coming here and bring us to see races with my sister. And for me it was fantastic. I really remember the grandstands didn’t have any barriers, so you could be really close to the track. I was already following Vale a lot, he was my idol. I was dreaming to ride on that track. Now to be here, fighting for podiums, victories, it’s amazing. It’s a place that I really like.”
Bezzecchi talks “very strange” issues when pursuing Bagnaia 25/06/2023
The polesitter & Sprint winner admits he was close to losing a podium in Assen, so a P2 capped off a brilliant weekend for the Italian
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Never had to check the diary. The last Saturday in June was Assen, followed eight days later at Spa. Thursday night at Assen fired up ten days of total chaos and some brilliant racing. Car races, deadlines, overnight ferries, flights in ancient aircraft, chips covered in mayonnaise, plenty of cold beer and planned parking; all coming into play to ensure back-to-back grands prix at two European classic venues, that somehow produced copy and photographs onto the pages of our respective magazines.
Again, the 16-year-old Spaniard had to fight for victory from the first corner to the last. Quiles, the 15-year-old Spaniard was determined to make amends for his Saturday fall and did much of the leading, often swapping places with fellow countryman Álvaro Carpe, who came into the race closest to Piqueras on points. 16-year-old Carpe had the front for most of the second half of the race but, so intense was the lead battle, he crossed the line in P6. It was Australian 18-year-old Jacob Roulstone who joined Piqueras and Quiles on the podium, getting the better of Casey O’Gorman and Alberto Ferrandez on the last lap.
After a string of three straight second-place finishes behind his closest title rivals, Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing), the World Champion Pecco Bagnaia bounced back in some style at the Motul TT Assen by clinching his fourth Grand Prix victory of the season. In doing so, the Italian joined some pretty illustrious company by moving himself into the upper echelons of the history books. That, and more, in your post-Dutch Grand Prix stats:
The Bharat Grand Prix promises to be a mind-blowing showcase of talent, featuring prodigious riders such as Marc Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia, and many more, battling it out in real time. This is your golden opportunity to witness these exceptional athletes in action, as they push themselves to the limit for glory.
The grid settled on one of the most iconic circuits on the 2023 MotoGP™ calendar, as with points to be won ahead of the summer break. The pressure was on for the title-fighting trio as third-placed rider in standings, Bezzecchi, was looking strong in the Netherlands after taking pole and the Sprint win. With just 31 points covering the top three, there was plenty to play for with Championship leader Bagnaia sat alongside Bezzecchi on the front row and third overall, Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), facing a mountain to climb from the fourth row.
Martin had a big task on his hands to join his Championship rivals as he started the Sprint and Grand Prix from the fourth row, with Bezzecchi and Bagnaia starting 1st and 2nd. The Spaniard picked up 6th place in the Sprint and 5th in the race, seeing him score 15 points across the weekend. Whilst the Sachsenring victor remains 2nd in the standings, he now has a 36 point gap to Bagnaia ahead and just 1 point between him and Bezzechi in 3rd.
Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools SpeedUp) took the holeshot from pole position with Ogura jumping Jake Dixon off the line. Lopez, Ogura, and Dixon were the top three as they crossed the line for the first time with a few bike lengths back to Aldeguer, Arenas, and Acosta in 4th, 5th, and 6th.
The group began to form as the laps ticked away and it was a ten-bike battle for victory in Assen. Positions continued to swap with Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP), Deniz Öncü, Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team), Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo), and Colin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) joining Masia, Muñoz, Kelso, and Rossi in the fight at the front.
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