The next stop for the MotoGP championship is the historic Assen circuit.
Jorge Lorenzo is heading to the Dutch circuit with two back-to-back victories and just seven points separating him from standings leader Dani Pedrosa.
After receiving assurances that his engine allocation will last him through the season – barring a crash – the reigning world champion will be looking for a hat trick on the same circuit that last season saw him being t-boned by Alvaro Bautista in the first lap.
Team mate Valentino Rossi will also try to stay away from Alvaro Bautista after the last two GP races, now that he has found a ‘breakthrough’ set-up during the Barcelona and Aragon tests.
The new set-up apparently has given him more confidence in braking, and improve his qualifying, which has been his ‘Achille’s heel’ so far this season, after qualifying five times out six rounds so far this season on the third row and only once on the second.
The Italian has an enviable record of five MotoGP victories at Assen, while team mate Lorenzo has one.
“Well, I’m quite happy after winning at Mugello and also Montmeló, two important victories for both me and the team for the Championship.
We were in a very good shape these last two races and I feel stronger than ever and really hungry to win.
I think in the last two races we made a quite big step on the bike to get the consistency on race pace.
Assen has been my favourite track ever.
I love the circuit, historic, quick and very flowing, but also I love the landscape, the ambience and I have always liked the country.
I am very motivated to go there and try to keep this line of winning, even more after our good test at Barcelona and Aragon, when we achieved some improvements for the future,” said Lorenzo.
“I am very happy about the test in Aragon and I’m looking forward to going to Assen.
The settings that we tested were positive and now I feel more feeling with the bike, especially when braking.
For me it is an important step and I really want to try the new set-up in another track.
I hope that this improvement will help me also to get a better starting position as it is so important to make the best qualification possible.
Assen is a great track, I love it and it brings to mind a lot of good memories.
We’ll try to leave this good feeling with the track and the bike to improve our results,” commented Rossi.