The third round of the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship took place at the iconic TT Circuit Assen this past weekend. Riders were faced with some of the most challenging weather conditions with low temperatures and intermittent showers which were made all the more challenging by a rapidly drying track.
This made for some exciting and unpredictable races across the classes, with another rollercoaster weekend for Yamaha, but ultimately with five visits to the podium across classes plus two pole positions, it was a successful weekend. Here’s what Yamaha Motor Europe Motorsport R&D and Andrea Dosoli had to say:
Riders experienced challenging conditions in Assen
‘CHALLENGING CONDITIONS’
“Assen is well known for being a challenging round in terms of weather. This year we have seen cold temperatures and variable weather conditions, which has been an extra stress for our riders and teams, but they were prepared for this.
“Despite the conditions, it was nice to see the grandstands and the paddock full of spectators, confirming the positive trend motorsport is enjoying in the Netherlands over the last few years. It is also the home race for Yamaha Motor Europe, so it was nice to share the racing experience with the colleagues who joined us this weekend.
“Once again, we saw how competitive the Supersport 300 World Championship grid is. I was glad to see our riders showed their competitiveness, fighting for the podium in the famous Geert Timmer chicane. I would say that despite having show the speed, perhaps a lack of experience in managing such a chaotic last lap prevented our guys from being on the podium, with the exception of Unai Calatayud who took his debut podium in race one, so congratulations to him.”
Glenn van Straalen wins at home
A POSITIVE WEEKEND FOR SUPERSPORT
“It was a very positive weekend for our riders in the Supersport World Championship with three podiums, one of these being a win. The weekend started the best possible way for Pata Yamaha Ten Kate with 1-2 in Superpole for their home race with Stefano Manzi and Glenn van Straalen. On Saturday, the second position of Stefano allowed him to take the lead of the championship and if it wasn’t for a strategic mistake in race two, we are confident he could have held on to and extended the lead. But the performance is there, the speed is there and we are confident he can head into the busier period of the season in a strong position to fight for the title. The Result of Race 2 almost reset the classification; it’s almost like starting from zero, there are four riders within two points!
“It was really nice to celebrate in the best possible way the special livery launched by Pata Yamaha Ten Kate for van Straalen for their home race. To see the orange R6 cross the line was a huge boost for the Dutch fans! After a difficult start to the season, I am sure this result will give him extra self-confidence and motivation for the rest of the season.”
Remy Gardner celebrates his maiden WorldSBK podium
GARDNER CELEBRATES MAIDEN PODIUM
“In Superbike, I was very happy to see a smiling Jonathan Rea after he took pole position on Saturday morning and then to see him fighting within the leading group in Race 1. Only the red flag prevented him the possibility to attack for the podium in the last few laps. He was unlucky in Race 2, mainly because of the crash, which was not his fault. However, it is clear that there was a positive step this weekend with his feeling with the R1, so hopefully we can build on this in our two tests ahead of Misano.
“When we talk about improvement, we need to talk about the positive trend shown by Remy Gardner, who step by step has climbed the mountain of the podium. We are really happy for this well-deserved third place for him in Race 2, after finishing very close to the podium in both Race 1 and the Superpole Race. This is a testament to his commitment, you can clearly see he is gelling more and more with the Superbike and his crew are doing a good job.
“It was a tough weekend for Andrea Locatelli; who for sure had the speed. He was a bit further back after Superpole, which made things a bit more tricky and he recovered well in Race 1 until he faced a technical problem and we apologise for this. This did not have an impact on his approach for Sunday, he was able to keep the focus and motivation and he improved his qualifying position in the Superpole race to start Race 2 on the second row. Starting from the second row, he was fighting for the podium, confirming once again his maturity. Only a small issue with the front brake, which is typically a result of crossing the aggressive kerbs, stopped him from staying with the top three guys at the end of the race. It was a good race considering everything.
“Qualifying also made the job of Dominique Aegerter quite hard. In the wet he didn’t get the feeling with the bike and did not perform as he is capable. I was pleased to see in the races he was able to recover a lot of positions and close the gap with the other Yamaha riders, showing good speed.
YART celebrated a podium in the Le Mans 24 hr
EWC & BSB SUCCESS
“Away from World Superbikes, we also had the first race of the Endurance World Championship in Le Mans with the 24 hour race. The preparation of the race has involved our engineers and technicians, who were working with YART on Monday/Tuesday before travelling to Assen for WorldSBK. This joint effort paid off, as we got the pole position and set a new lap record, so congratulations to the team and our riders, especially Niccoló Canepa who set the lap record despite not being 100% fit after his crash in Daytona. We followed the race lap by lap from Assen, a few of us did not sleep on Saturday night! We were leading by a few laps and the pace was incredible, but we were unlucky with a crash which led to a lot of work from the team. They were able to fix it and get back out, set the quickest lap and recover to finish on the podium in such a historical race.
“It was not only World Championship events this weekend, we also saw the first race of the British Championship, a championship which is important for the Yamaha family, and having seen a clean sweep of the podium in both races means a lot to us so congratulations to the OMG Racing team and McAMS team and their riders for the results.
“All in all, it has been a positive weekend for Yamaha confirming the competitiveness of our bike. The R1 and R6 continue to work well at Assen. Now we have a lot of time before the next round which is a big help for our engineers to further develop our packages. We have two tests, one at Cremona to understand the new track and then at Misano to prepare for the race. We’ll miss the racing, but our staff will be working hard in developing and preparing a better package for our riders.”
