Team Suzuki Press Office – June 26.
Joan Mir: 8th (+8.185s)
Alex Rins: 10th (+8.596s)
Team Suzuki Ecstar will head to the five-week summer break with a better taste in their mouths than recent weeks after Joan Mir and Alex Rins put in resilient performances to claim eighth and 10th respectively.
The GSX-RR riders proved to have great pace with their best laps only around a tenth from the top. This shows that their race performance was better than the result revealed, but the team are nevertheless pleased with the points achieved after a tough period.
The atmosphere at the classic Assen circuit was electric with 104,244 fans present to witness the drama unfold, and the start was certainly full of thrills for Mir after two small collisions. However, the Mallorcan kept his calm and focused on climbing through the pack. Further back Rins was taking his time to bed into the race and get to grips with the situation.
The pair continued to gain places, and even the onset of rain with 10 laps to go didn’t deter them from their mission. Mir caught up to the group in front and started to pass those around him, and before long he was joined by his team-mate. With gaps having opened up in the field, Mir and Rins reached the highest positions possible with eighth and 10th; welcome points for both riders.
Joan Mir:
“There were two key things about this race for me, one is that my start was quite bad and I didn’t gain any positions, and the other is that in the last part of the race I lost a lot of time trying to overtake Zarco. But in general today’s result isn’t bad because the lap times showed I was quite pacey, and I was able to make up quite a lot of places in the end and get some points on the board. I feel a bit of a boost now ahead of the summer break, and I’ll be ready to come back and fight for more in the second half.”
Alex Rins:
“My start wasn’t as good as usual, and I’m not really sure why – I started ninth but I was only 16th in the early laps. Then I wanted to make sure I had enough heat in the tyres and I didn’t want to push until I felt more able to. I did feel some pain during today’s race, and it wasn’t easy, but I managed to get my way up to 10th and that’s quite a nice finish after such a difficult period for me and my team. Now it’s time to take a few weeks of rest and come back in Silverstone – a track I really love.”
Livio Suppo – Team Manager:
“This isn’t the result we were really hoping for, because this is a track where both our riders are fast and our bike too. But, on the other hand, certain things conditioned the race a bit today; neither qualified very high up so they were already on the back foot, and then Joan had a touch off the start. But despite all this, both riders had good pace and I’m pleased with their performance; they didn’t give up. The speed was good, but the final result of eighth and 10th wasn’t as high as we wanted. But taking this finish before the break is important, and I want to thank all the team for their hard work during the first half of the season.”
Shinichi Sahara – Project Leader:
“Looking at today from a positive point of view, both our riders finished in the Top 10 and this is good for us, especially after some DNFs recently. Joan was riding very well today, but his grid position wasn’t ideal and it held him back, so we need to improve that. Alex was impressive to finish inside the Top 10 because his wrist still isn’t at 100%. During the summer break we’ll put effort in to return in the best shape possible.”
GRAND PRIX OF THE NETHERLANDS RACE RESULTS:
1 Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 175.2 40’25.2050
2 Marco Bezzecchi – Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 175.2 +0.444
3 Maverick Viñales – Aprilia Racing Aprilia 175.2 +1.209
4 Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Aprilia 175.1 +2.585
5 Brad Binder – Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 175.1 +2.721
6 Jack Miller – Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 175 +3.045
7 Jorge Martin – Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 174.9 +4.340
8 Joan Mir – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 174.7 +8.185
9 Miguel Oliveira – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 174.6 +8.325
10 Alex Rins – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 174.6 +8.596
11 Enea Bastianini – Racing MotoGP Ducati 174.5 +9.783
12 Takaaki Nakagami – Honda IDEMITSU Honda 174.5 +10.617
13 Johann Zarco – Prima Pramac Racing Ducati 174.2 +14.405
14 Fabio Di Giannantonio – Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 174 +17.681
15 Alex Marquez – LCR Honda CASTROL Honda 173.4 +25.866
16 Andrea Dovizioso – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 173.1 +29.711
17 Luca Marini – Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 173.1 +30.296
18 Stefan Bradl – Repsol Honda Team Honda 172.9 +32.225
19 Remy Gardner – Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 172.8 +34.947
20 Lorenzo Savadori – Aprilia Racing Aprilia 172.7 +35.798
DNF:
Raul Fernandez – Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 170.6 8 laps
Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 158.4 15 laps
Franco Morbidelli – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 152.7 18 laps
Darryn Binder – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 171.4 18 laps
RIDERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1 Fabio QUARTARARO 172
2 Aleix ESPARGARO 151
3 Johann ZARCO 114
4 Francesco BAGNAIA 106
5 Enea BASTIANINI 105
6 Brad BINDER 93
7 Jack MILLER 91
8 Joan MIR 77
9 Alex RINS 75
10 Miguel OLIVEIRA 71
11 Jorge MARTIN 70
12 Maverick VIÑALES 62
13 Marc MARQUEZ 60
14 Marco BEZZECCHI 55
15 Luca MARINI 52
16 Takaaki NAKAGAMI 42
17 Pol ESPARGARO 40
18 Alex MARQUEZ 27
19 Franco MORBIDELLI 25
20 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO 18
21 Darryn BINDER 10
22 Andrea DOVIZIOSO 10
23 Remy GARDNER 9
24 Raul FERNANDEZ 5
25 Michele PIRRO 0
26 Stefan BRADL 0
27 Lorenzo SAVADORI 0
