“One of my favorite tracks”: MotoGP ™ returns to legendary turf
Drivers ready to race as the pre-event press conference gets the Motul TT Assen going
Thursday June 24th 2021
We are back! The pre-event press conference began on Thursday with the Motul TT Assen as the FIM MotoGP ™ World Championship returns to the legendary venue. The championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) joined Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing); Second in the overall standings, as well as Jack Miller from the Ducati Lenovo Team, momentum man Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Sachsenring history maker Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and legend Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT), the latter fresh from the Announcement of his MotoGP ™ project for 2022 up to a conversation about the upcoming and last weekend.
Here are some important quotes:
Fabio Quartararo: “I’m so excited because it’s one of my favorite tracks. It’s very different from the Sachsenring, the bike runs well. In 2019 I was so happy, I really like the track, it’s so fast and I think we can do it really well, we feel great on the bike. The Sachsenring was a tough one for us, I think the podium was the best we could achieve on Sunday, and yes, I’m very happy about it. “
During the summer break:
“To be honest, I like to take a break, but five weeks will feel like a lot. But yes, it is important to take a break, to change your mind a little, but in the second week I get nervous about going back on the bike, but I think it is necessary for the body and mind. “
Johann Zarco: “I hope because it will be necessary for the championship and before the summer break it would be good to have a great visit here. As I always say, the Ducati has huge potential and I think the bike has the potential to be on podiums anywhere this season. I clearly missed something at the Sachsenring, but the weekend was very interesting and also in the race in the first half I was pretty happy to see a lot of things so I hope these things will be useful for this weekend and make me strong, to fight with Fabio who I think will be one of the best and if I can be fast enough I think I’ll enjoy it. “
During the summer break:
“For my part, I think I could go on because I like it when I do the GPs in a row and I don’t think I really need the break, but I’ll take it as it comes and as one good thing because maybe i don’t feel it but the body wants it. Five weeks will be long and therefore it will be necessary to enjoy the break, but then we start to train well to be ready for the second half, which will start with the two Spielbergs in a row, which can be good for them Ducati. be . So when I live day to day I’m pretty relaxed with it and I think I’ll take it fine, but the body could go on because the results are good and you are happy if you go that route. “
Jack Miller: “Of course the memories come back. It’s been kind of an up and down through my career, certainly a huge highlight in ’16, but it’s one that I never really shined with in the dry. But I want to come back here for the third year, I had a bit of problems in 2019, but as Johann said, we have a bike that can fight for the podium week after week. It just wasn’t our day last week on Sunday, I felt mega mega all weekend, just couldn’t bring it together in the race. The guys drove well and we came out with some good points, here and then into the summer break so that we can hopefully end the first half of the season with a good end, that would be nice and move into the second half of the season with a clearer vision of what we have to do. “
During the summer break:
“It’s neither long enough nor short enough. I can’t go home, it’s not long enough to go home so I have to stay here and yes it is what it is. It’s nice to take a break, go out, do other things for a couple of weeks instead of traveling and so on. A few extra weeks wouldn’t have been so bad, but I can’t always get what you want! “
Miguel Oliveira: “The moment we are in right now is certainly strong and we are motivated, we feel better than ever. Assen is one circuit where we are discovering with this new package that there is promise. We could be competitive right away on every racetrack that we have ridden and we can at least show our potential on Friday and tomorrow it will of course be an important day for us to quickly find the way to set up the bike and on this Be competitive again at the weekend. “
About crew chief Paul Trevathan:
“With Paul it was easy to come back. We worked together in 2015, he wasn’t my crew boss but he was a KTM track assistant in Moto3 and so this year we worked together in the same garage so of course I knew him. Even when I switched to MotoGP, we always talked a little and of course the relationship was very natural. When I found him as my crew chief, I was very happy that we could work together, also because I think not only him, but the whole structure on this side of the garage is great! Everyone is great, but of course I’m working closer to my side and I’m really excited to be where I am now because I have a great team that is helping me to achieve these great results. “
Marc Marquez: “It was an important win on Sunday, one of the most important or hardest moments of my career. This win came at a very important moment because we were in a very deep situation, especially for me, but also for the team and for Honda because it was a long time without a win, but I think this is where we will become our real one Return to the situation. However, it was important that the win before the summer break, we will try to overtake Assen and then for more than a month our program to continue our process and let’s see if we can do better than Mugello and Montmelo , but I can’t expect to be at the level of the Sachsenring. “
During the summer break:
“Of course the summer break will be important to me, the arm and especially the shoulder feel great, especially when you do too much. It’s weird because I did a lot of laps on the Montmelo test, but if I do a couple of laps, stop, a couple of laps, stop, I can do a lot of times. But if the strain on the arm continues for a long time like 30 laps on the Sachsenring, then the day after the performance it goes down significantly. I can feel the weather change and the humidity very much, that’s normal, I called the doctor and he says it’s normal, but the most important thing was this victory, then we’ll see.
“The good news for me this week is that we’re going to Austin. It’s a circuit that I like. The bad news is that we have already canceled or it looks like we won’t be racing on some tracks, but more races on the calendar are better for all drivers. “
Valentino Rossi: “Assen is a great place. It’s the track that more or less every rider loves because, firstly, it’s the track with the longest history in motorcycle racing and was on the calendar from the start, and secondly, the layout is fantastic. Now it’s modified, but the taste of the old Assen remains and it’s always a pleasure to ride. Yes and now it’s official that next year VR46 will have a team in MotoGP and we are all very happy and proud of this project that started 10 years ago with the driver academy and also with the team in Moto3 and Moto2. There are a lot of good people working on this project and they are all very excited. We’ll be using the Ducati bike and we’re very happy with it. It’s an Italian motorcycle and Italian rider and also the team that is in Italy in Tavullia. Yes, I think it’s good and we can enjoy it. “
In the future:
“I haven’t made up my mind yet because I’ll think more deeply during this break. I also need to speak to Yamaha and the team, but you know that we definitely want to try to get better performance and better results. The start of the season has not been fantastic up to that point, so I think that from that point of view it will be very difficult to race next year. The prince always urges me to ride the Ducati on my team next year, but at the moment I think it will be very difficult. “
That’s a wrap on Thursday! Free practice begins on Friday morning before the MotoGP ™ prepares for the Geert-Timmer chicane on Sunday at 2:00 pm (GMT +2).
Before the track action, it was time for some video game action too. On Thursday afternoon, MotoGP ™ rider Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was supported at the legendary TT Circuit Assen by home heroes Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team), Moto2 ™ rider and MotoE ™ rookie Jasper Iwema (Pons Racing 40) Play-off on the starting grid, also with a very special guest: Motul Super Fan Samuel Jaspers.
It was Rins who ultimately prevailed and defeated the home heroes on home turf to start his Motul TT Assen on a high level. How are the cards shuffled when the lights really go out? Bendsneyder races at 12:20 (GMT +2), Rins at 14:00 and Iwema at 15:30 on Sunday …