Pirelli rewrites all the records in Assen; victory for Ogura in Moto2™ and Ortolá in Moto3™
New all-time lap records, race lap records and races much faster than in 2023: these are the results of the standard DIABLO Superbike tyres at the Dutch GP
For the races in the Moto2™ and Moto3™ World Championships held today at the TT Assen Circuit in Holland, Ai Ogura (MT Helmets-MSI/Boscoscuro) and Ivan Ortolá (MT Helmets-MSI/KTM) won respectively with new race lap records set by Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets-MSI/Boscoscuro) in Moto2™ and Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing/Honda) in Moto3™. The standard Pirelli tyres performed extremely well, allowing all the circuit records to be broken for the two categories, including the all-time lap record, also contributing significantly to improving the overall race times and pace.
BARBIER INGLESE
Positive outcome: spectacular races and all records broken
“The outcome of this weekend in Holland is extremely positive. Once again, we watched spectacular races which were fiercely fought all the way to the chequered flag, but also super-fast. The overall time for the Moto2™ race improved by 16 seconds compared with last year, whereas the Moto3™ race was almost half a minute faster than 2023 with a race pace that was an amazing second and a half faster. In addition, we also broke the previous race lap record by a wide margin and, already on Friday, the all-time lap record was broken for both categories. These results were achieved, as we have already pointed out several times, using standard tyres which are regularly available for purchase on the market and, more importantly, they were not an isolated case, given the fact that similar progress has also been made on the other circuits where we have been so far this year. In Moto2™, we noticed that the riders continue to favour the softer compounds on both wheels, whereas in Moto3™, choices vary more, but in any case, all the tyres used performed extremely well. Outstanding results for the FIM MotoGP Rookies Cup as well, which raced here with front and rear tyres in SC2 compound. Now, with this GP in the books, we’ll head to Sachsenring, a track that Pirelli does not know very well and which is notoriously rather demanding on the tyres.”
THE RACE OF THE TYRES
Moto2™
· Choices were practically unanimous in terms of compounds for the race. Almost all the riders used the soft solutions, so the SC0 rear and the SC1 front, with the only exception being Manuel Gonzalez (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2/Kalex) who went with the medium SC2 at the front.
· Another win for Ai Ogura (MT Helmets-MSI/Boscoscuro) after his victory in the GP of Catalunya. Pole man Fermín Aldeguer and teammate Sergio Garcia finished behind him. The race was 16 seconds faster than last year’s, with an improvement on lap times of over 7 tenths of a second.
· On the eighth lap, Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets-MSI/Boscoscuro) set the new race lap record with a time of 1’35.977, breaking by over 7 tenths the one set in 2021 by Raul Fernandez. Besides the Spaniard, another 16 riders dropped below the previous track race lap record.
Moto3™
· In the race, almost all the riders (20 out of 26) went with the medium SC2 tyre at the front, the most suitable for the characteristics of the Dutch track, with two significant exceptions: pole man Piqueras and the rider in the second spot on the grid, Furusato, opted for the soft SC1. On the other hand, at the rear, the soft SC1 was the most popular solution (19 riders out of 26) but there were those, like Veijer, who preferred instead the medium SC2 (6 riders out of 26).
· After starting from the fourth spot on the grid, Ivan Ortolá (MT Helmets-MSI/KTM) won the race, overtaking hometown hero Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP/Husqvarna) on the final lap and finishing with an advantage of just 12 thousandths of a second. Finishing behind them to take the third step of the podium was David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports/KTM). Both Veijer and Muñoz used the SC2 front and rear, whereas Ortolá went with the soft SC1 rear.
· The new race lap record was set by Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing/Honda) who, with a time of 1’40.405 on the third lap, improved on the previous record by almost 8 tenths, set by John Mcphee in 2022. Overall, a total of 14 riders did at least one lap faster than the previous track record time.
· The race this year was more than 28 seconds faster than the 2023 race, held with similar asphalt temperatures, for an average race pace improvement of almost a second and a half.
