MotoGP Dutch GP – Circuit Assen TT
The Dutch GP weekend started with difficulties for the Reale Avintia Racing riders and things didn’t improve in the race today.
Starting from 14th place on the grid, Tito Rabat overtook some riders to take 11th place after the crash of Danilo Petrucci. But with the Italian gone, Rabat started to struggle with the strong wind that blew on Sunday, he couldn’t find to his usual speed and had bad feelings riding the bike. Nevertheless, he continued to fight and finished in 16th position after a great battle with five more riders that were separate by just 0.5s when the chequered flag came down.
Teammate Xavier Simeon also had a tough weekend. He had a good start and was ahead of Abraham and Lüthi on the opening few laps of the race, but then the Belgian rider ran into problems with his rear tyre and eventually decided to retire.
The MotoGP World Championship will be back in action in two weeks time at the Sachsenring for the German Grand Prix.
“We had difficulties all weekend long and today made no difference. First I felt good in the race and I was comfortable riding behind Petrucci, but when he crashed, it became very difficult to ride the bike because of the strong wind. I had no confidence, I was losing positions and in the end I couldn’t fight for more than 16th place. We have to work and prepare better for the next windy race, because it’s obvious that we have to improve in this area. At the end we got no points, but I finished only 16 seconds behind the winner, which is not so bad.”
“It was difficult to understand what happened this weekend. After the test in Barcelona, where we did a promising race simulation and I got a good feeling with the bike, I was expecting a good result here at Assen. I’ve been always fast here and I love the track, so I came here determined to do well in front of the Belgian fans. But I was not comfortable during the whole weekend. In the race I struggled with the rear tyre after ten laps and we don’t know why. I want to say sorry to my team, because we all came here looking forward to a good result. Now we have to think of Germany”.
