MotoGP hits Assen this weekend – MotoGP/2/3/E previews and current state of play

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round Eight – Motul TT Assen
TT Circuit Assen – Preview

Despite no racing for a few weeks, MotoGP has made plenty of headlines since the Mugello Test.

Jorge Martin moving from Prima Pramac Racing to Aprilia Racing for 2025.

That made it fairly clear who was going to be announced alongside reigning Champion Francesco Bagnaia at the Ducati Lenovo Team, and sure enough, it was confirmed not too long thereafter: Marc Marquez will move from Gresini Racing MotoGP to the factory team.

There was then a détente in the rush to win announcement roulette before KTM came out with their big reveal for 2025. The rumour of Enea Bastianini’s move from alongside Bagnaia to Austrian machinery was true. But the rumour of who would be his team-mate had not even begun as KTM managed to keep their full line-up under wraps, and it was another bombshell: Maverick Viñales will join a newly orange Red Bull KTM Tech3 squad alongside the ‘Beast’.

Now, we know who will replace him at Aprilia: Marco Bezzecchi, moving from the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team.  There are still a few spots in that game of musical chairs for 2025, but this weekend it is back to the here and now.

This season, there remains a Championship to win. 13 Grands Prix, 13 Tissot Sprints and a maximum of 481 points still await in 2024 and we get back on track with a back-to-back line-up of two classics, starting with the TT Circuit Assen this weekend.

As MotoGP celebrates its 75th anniversary, Assen celebrates its 75th Grand Prix, as it has been on the calendar every year since 1949, barring one gap in 2020. But heritage isn’t a throwback at the Cathedral, it lives alongside what’s often one of the most spectacular race weekends of the season.

Bagnaia, winner of the last two and superfan of the venue, wants to rule both for the points and to make one, as his 2025 team-mate is confirmed. Martin, with only one Moto3 win at the venue so far, arguably wants that win even more, and his speed and consistency are there. Maybe his decisions for the future are backed by both.

Having made a point already, Marc Marquez is missing that Grand Prix win in 2024, too. Can he take one at Assen, one of Bagnaia’s most coveted top steps? With the three riders covered by 35 points, these two weekends are tantalising as the form book for Assen doesn’t much resemble that for Germany.

Then there’s Bastianini, only 57-points off the top but somewhat overlooked, and that gap could have been less if not for his adventures garnering attention from the FIM MotoGP Stewards at Le Mans and Barcelona, including his one-man insurrection there that dropped him outside the points.

However, Mugello’s last lap, last corner move on Martin shows what he’s got when the cards fall right. Viñales, meanwhile, is a master of Assen. His CV at the venue is one of the best on the grid, and his form in 2024 is strong. Can he get back into the podium fight and revive some COTA BatMav?

Team-mate Aleix Espargaro has form at Assen, too, including a podium last year as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) got done for track limits, and the Aprilia was promoted. Espargaro has also pulled off that stunning two-for-one on Binder and now-teammate Jack Miller at the final chicane within recent memory.

Binder, track limits aside, had podium pace too, and Miller – now on the market for 2025 – has fair form at Assen, including his historic first MotoGP win in the rain in 2016.

Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3), now confirmed in orange next season, will want to get back in the podium battle, and his team-mate Augusto Fernandez will hope Assen – where he won his first Grand Prix, in Moto2, and which is one of his favourite tracks – helps his luck to turn.

After a much tougher run of late, Bezzecchi will be looking for a turnaround, too. Last year, he won the Sprint to deny Bagnaia the chance at the double, and even if the eventual Champion took the spoils on Sunday, Bezzecchi wasn’t too far behind for an impressive podium.

Meanwhile, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) is quietly impressing as he keeps the upper hand on a fair few fellow GP23 riders, and he’ll want to continue doing that.

Bezzecchi and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) are looking to put a stop to it.

Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) is on his own mission, with the speed now there more often than not, but more points-paying finishes on the menu.

At Trackhouse Racing, the rumour mills remain full steam ahead, but Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez must maximise the weekend regardless. Fernandez’ 2024 is showing flashes of what we’ve been waiting for since his promotion to the premier class, including that impressive Sprint lead a few races ago. Still, he’ll want more, and Oliveira wants to stamp some authority back on the dynamic.

Those rumour mills still abound at Honda, too. Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) is now in the spotlight there, with the 2020 Champion seemingly a big piece of the remaining puzzle. Still, on track the mission remains simple: move forward.

Teammate Luca Marini, who has already signed up and has no market stress, joins him in that, and Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) on both counts.

Meanwhile, Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda LCR) is quietly impressing in the battle there. He’s also a former Moto2 winner at Assen.

At Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) will be hoping Assen – where last year his speed was impressive – will help give their mission back to the front a boost and his own record at the venue is a good one, too.

Alex Rins, meanwhile, remains on the hunt for more points in a difficult season as Yamaha looks to rebuild into frontrunners. Still, reports from the Iwata marque’s recent test were very positive.

The headlines off-track will keep us talking as we head into the weekend, but once the action starts, we know Assen will grab the spotlight back for the stunning racing promised at the Cathedral.

MotoGP Championship Standings

Moto2

Following a lower-key Catalan GP, Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing) bounced back brilliantly at Mugello to claim a pole position and race win, seeing the American pick up his first 25-point haul since 2022.

Roberts’ timely victory sees the #16 claw back valuable points on World Championship leader Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI) after the Spaniard missed out on a rostrum finish for the first time since the Spanish GP.

Garcia grabbed P4 at the chequered flag, as the Boscoscuro star heads to Assen holding a seven-point advantage in the overall standings. It’s tight at the top.

A third podium of 2024 was pocketed by Manuel Gonzalez (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2) as the Spaniard pushed Roberts all the way in Italy, and after two no-scores in Le Mans and Barcelona, Gonzalez needed that P2. Having been just 0.067s away from the win, can he now build on his best finish of the season in the Netherlands?

Elsewhere, mixed fortunes came the way of the Speed Up Racing duo. The positive was Alonso Lopez finished P3, but Fermin Aldeguer’s tougher-than-many-expected season continued after he was caught up in an incident involving Jeremy Alcoba (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team). A second DNF in as many races sees the pre-season favourite needing results – and fast.

2023 Dutch TT winner Jake Dixon (CFMoto Aspar Team) likewise wants a lot more as we return to the venue in 2024. The Briton’s Catalan GP podium couldn’t be backed up with another promising result at Mugello, so the #96 will be hunting a repeat of his 2023 heroics this weekend.

In that memorable outing, Dixon pipped Ai Ogura (MT Helmets – MSI) to the top step, and after a P5 in Italy, the Japanese star will be fancying a rostrum return too.

Australia’s Senna Agius will no doubt also be looking to add to his point tally. He is currently sitting 17th in the standings, with 16 points to his name.

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

The current Moto3 state of play can be summed up in two words: David Alonso. The CFMoto Aspar Team rider has racked up three consecutive wins as the Colombian’s early season march has now birthed five victories in seven races, with his lead up to a healthy 37 points as a trip to the Cathedral of Speed awaits.

This weekend though it’s a homecoming for Mugello runner-up Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP). The Dutchman arrives in Assen with three podiums in his last four outings, the other being a P4.

Veijer, after Daniel Holgado’s (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) more difficult Italian GP, is now just 11 points off the Spaniard, who currently occupies P2 in the Championship. Does a second win of 2024 beckon on home turf for Veijer? Many thousands of fans will be hoping so, and he’ll do anything to deliver.

At Mugello, that long-awaited debut podium visit was secured by Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI), while teammate Ivan Ortola will be hoping to respond after a crash on the final lap cost the Spaniard a top three finish.

The latter is now 15 points adrift of Veijer as we approach the summer break. Can they close the gap near the top? And can anyone defeat Alonso?

Aussies Joel Kelso and Jacob Roulstone will certainly be aiming to make a mark. The duo currently sit seventh and tenth in the overall standings, and with only five points separating seventh through eleventh on the points table, there is plenty to play for.

Moto3 Championship Standings

MotoE

Eight races down, eight to go. The 2024 FIM Enel MotoE World Championship has been a fascinating watch up to the halfway point as the electric class riders and teams get set to dance to the hymns of the Cathedral of Speed for Round 5.

Heading to the Motul TT Assen, Mattia Casadei (LCR E-Team) holds the Championship lead – but only just. The Italian bounced back from a disappointing Catalan GP to pick up a win and second place on home turf at Mugello, handing him the title chase lead, but fellow Italian Kevin Zannoni won Race 2 to ensure he’s just six points adrift. Casadei has a podium pedigree in Assen, so the current leader is confident he can still be at the summit this coming Saturday evening.

Casadei and Zannoni are the lead players so far in the 2024 Championship chase, as Oscar Gutierrez (Axxis-MSI) and Nicholas Spinelli (Tech3 E-Racing) land in the Netherlands searching for much better weekends than they endured in Italy. Gutierrez’s P10 and P11 and Spinelli’s P9 and P10 were the pair’s worst finishes of the season. Time to respond in Assen.

Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) is now level on points with Spinelli – 88 apiece – in P5, with the Spaniard returning to the podium last time out with a P3 for the first time since his double P2 in Portimao. The other rostrum scorer at Mugello was Eric Granado (LCR E-Team) as the Brazilian grabbed a much-needed third in Race 2 to set himself up for a charge up the standings in the second half of the season.

Last year’s double Assen winner, Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE), earned his best result of the season at Mugello with a P7, as the first ever Cup winner eyes a podium return at a happy hunting ground. Alessandro Zaccone (Tech3 E-Racing) could also be one to watch after an impressive Mugello where he returned to parc ferme with pole position and a podium.

2024 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar (Updated)

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