TT Circuit Assen-Netherlands – History of the Dutch TT
Assen is the only venue that has hosted a Grand Prix event every year since the motorcycle World Championship Grand Prix series started back in 1949 and below are some facts and gures from the previous events at this famous circuit.
- The Dutch TT became part of the world championship series when it was first created in 1949 and Assen is the only circuit to have been part of the series every year since, making this the 69th Dutch TT that has counted towards the world championship classification.
- In 2016 the Dutch TT was held on Sunday for the first time; all previous Dutch TT events had taken place on Saturday.
- The original Assen circuit that was used up to 1954 measured 16.54 km. This was reduced to 7.7 km in 1955. In 1984, further modifications to the circuit reduced the length to 6.1 km. The current layout has been used since 2006, with a few minor adjustments.
- The 500cc race at the 1975 Dutch TT is the only premier-class Grand Prix race where the first two riders across the line have been credited with the same race time. Barry Sheene and Giacomo Agostini finished so close that the timekeepers of the day, using manual timing accurate to 0.1 sec, were unable to split them.
- Yamaha are the most successful manufacturer at the Dutch TT since the start of the four-stroke MotoGP era, with eight victories.
- Honda have had six MotoGP wins at the Dutch TT with six different riders: Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner, Marc Marquez and Jack Miller.
- Ducati’s single MotoGP win at the Dutch TT came in 2008 with Casey Stoner. Ducati has had just two podium finishers at Assen in the past six years: Andrea Dovizioso was second in 2014 and Scott Redding third last year.
- The last win by Suzuki at the Dutch TT was in the 500cc race in 1993 with Kevin Schwantz. The best results by Suzuki in the MotoGP era at the Dutch TT are 5th place finishes by John Hopkins in 2007 and Chris Vermeulen in 2009.
- Ben Spies took his one and only MotoGP win at the Dutch TT in 2011 riding a Yamaha.
- The last rider to win the MotoGP race at the Dutch TT in successive years is Valentino Rossi, in 2004 and 2005.
- The rider with most GP victories at Assen is Angel Nieto with 15 wins in the 125cc and 50cc classes, followed by Giacomo Agostini who had 14 wins riding 500cc and 350cc machines.
- Among the current riders, Valentino Rossi has been most successful at Assen with a total of nine victories – seven in MotoGP and one each in the 250cc and 125cc classes.
- Each of the three winners at the Dutch TT last year were first time winners in their particular class: MotoGP – Jack Miller, Moto2 – Takaaki Nakagami, Moto3 – Francesco Bagnaia
- The win in the Moto2 class by Takaaki Nakagami last year at Assen was the first GP victory for a Japanese rider in any class of Grand Prix racing since Yuki Takahashi won the Moto2 race at the Catalan Grand Prix in 2010. Nakagami is the only rider still competing in Moto2 who has won an intermediate-class race at Assen.
- Moto3 rookie Bo Bendsneyder finished 9th at his home GP last year, which was the best result for a Dutch rider in any class of Grand Prix racing at the Dutch TT since Jurgen van den Goorbergh finished ninth in the 500cc race in 2001.
- At the end of the 22 lap Moto3 race at the Dutch TT last year, Jules Danilo in sixth position crossed the finish line just 0.161 seconds behind race winner Bagnaia. This is the closest top six finish of all-time in grand prix racing.
- Pecco Bagnaia took his first GP win in the Moto3 race last year at Assen; this was also the first ever victory for Mahindra as a constructor.
Milestone win for Andrea Dovizioso
Andrea Dovizioso’s back-to-back victories at Mugello and Catalunya onboard the factory Ducati resulted in a number of new records and milestones:
- This was the first time in his career that Dovizioso has scored back-to-back Grand Prix wins.
- Dovizioso is the first Ducati rider since Casey Stoner in 2010 to score more than a single win in one season.
- Dovizioso is just the tenth rider to win back-to-back MotoGP races since it replaced the 500cc class as the premier class in 2002, along with: Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau, Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Marc Marquez and Maverick Viñales.
- He is the oldest rider to win back-to-back races since Loris Capirossi won in Japan and Malaysia in 2005. These wins by Capirossi were also the last time that an Italian rider won back-to-back MotoGP races on an Italian manufactured motorcycle.
- He is the first Italian rider to take back-to-back MotoGP wins since Valentino Rossi in 2009.
- The last time that Italian riders won two successive races was in 2009 when Dovizioso won at Donington followed by Rossi winning at Brno.
- Following his win in Catalunya, Dovizioso is in second place in the championship standings with 104 points – his highest ever points score after the opening seven races of the year during his time in the MotoGP class.
Ducati revival continues
The wins by Dovizioso at Mugello and Catalunya are the first back-to-back wins for Ducati since those Stoner wins in 2010.
This is the first time that Ducati have scored two or more dry weather MotoGP victories in a single season since 2010.
Ducati have won four of the last sixteen races, following a period of 100 races without a single win.
Following the Catalan Grand Prix, Ducati have scored 122 points in the Constructor’s World Championship Classification – the highest points accumulated after the opening seven rounds by Ducati since 2009 when they also had 122 points at this stage of the season.
For the first time since the Austrian Grand Prix last year both of the factory Ducati riders finished in the top four at the Catalan Grand Prix.
Andrea Dovizioso levels with Jorge Lorenzo
With his win in Catalunya Andrea Dovizioso extends the length of his winning career in grand prix racing to 13 years 54 days. As shown in the following table this is exactly the same length of winning career current factory Ducati teammate Jorge Lorenzo.
Longest Winning Careers in Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing – All Solo Classes
- Valentino Rossi 125cc/Czech/1996 MotoGP/Catalunya/2016 19 years 292 days
- Loris Capirossi 125cc/GB/1990 MotoGP/Japan/2007 17 years 49 days
- Angel Nieto 50cc/E. Germany/1969 80cc/France/1985 16 years 8 days
- Dani Pedrosa 125cc/Dutch TT/2002 MotoGP/Spain/2017 14 years 312 days
- Phil Read 350cc/GB/1961 500cc/Czech/1975 14 years 71 days
- 6 = Jorge Lorenzo 125cc/Rio/2003 MotoGP/Valencia/2016 13 years 54 days
6 = Andrea Dovizioso 125cc/South Africa/2004 MotoGP/Italy/2017 13 years 54 days - 8 Loris Reggiani 125cc/GB/1980 250cc/Czech/1993 13 years 12 days
- Mattia Pasini 125cc/China/2005 Moto2/Italy/2017 12 years 34 days
- Max Biaggi 250cc/South Africa/1992 MotoGP/Germany/2004 11 years 315 days
MotoGP Facts and Stats
- Andrea Dovizioso has taken three wins in the last nine races: over the same period Maverick Viñales has also had three wins, with one each going to Dani Pedrosa, Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo.
- If Andrea Dovizioso wins the Dutch TT he will be the oldest rider to win three or more successive premier-class races since Mick Doohan in 1998.
- Neither Dani Pedrosa nor fellow factory Honda rider Marc Marquez has started from pole in the MotoGP class at the Dutch TT. The last Honda rider to start do so was Casey Stoner in 2012.
- Last year at the Dutch TT Jack Miller took his first win in the MotoGP class; this was the first win by an Independent Team (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) since Toni Elias won in Portugal in 2006.
- Following the Catalan Grand Prix, Maverick Viñales leads the MotoGP Championship standings with a score of 111 points. This is the lowest score for a rider leading the Championship after the opening seven races of the year since the current points scoring system was introduced in 1993; the previous lowest was in 1998 when Max Biaggi led the championship with 118 points after seven races.
- Following his wins at Mugello and Catalunya, if Andrea Dovizioso wins the Dutch TT he will become only the sixth rider to win three or more successive MotoGP races, joining: Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.
- The second place finish by Marc Marquez in Catalunya was the 54th time he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class. This is the same number of premier-class podium finishes as Randy Mamola achieved during his years racing in the 500cc grand prix class.
- Marc Marquez has not qualified on pole since the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin. This is the first time since moving up to the MotoGP class that he has gone four successive races without starting from pole.
- Dani Pedrosa’s third place finish in Catalunya was the 107th time he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class, just one less than great rival Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa has been on the podium four times in the first seven races of the year, compared to just three podium finishes he achieved during the whole of 2016.
- Valentino Rossi has a score of 83 points after the first seven races of the year; this is the lowest point score for Rossi at this stage of the season in the MotoGP era with the exception of 2010 – when he crashed in Mugello and missed the next three races – and in 2011 & 2012 when riding for Ducati.
- Valentino Rossi lies in fifth place in the championship with 83 points, just 28 points behind Championship leader Maverick Viñales. This is the smallest points margin covering the top five riders in the Championship after the first seven races since the current scoring system was introduced in 1993.
- Johann Zarco continued his great start to his rookie season in the MotoGP class with a fifth at Catalunya, taking him to a total of 75 points after the opening seven races of the year. This is the highest ever score after seven races in the MotoGP era by a rookie riding for an Independent Team.
- Jorge Lorenzo finished fourth at the Catalan Grand Prix, but just 9.608 seconds behind race winner Andrea Dovizioso. This is the smallest gap he has had to the race winner since joining the Ducati factory team.
- Jonas Folger finished 6th in Catalunya to maintain his record of scoring in all seven appearances in his rookie year in MotoGP. Folger has finished no lower than 13th in his first seven MotoGP starts, something only achieved by one other rookie in the MotoGP era – Hector Barbera in 2010.
- Folger set the fastest lap of the race at the Catalan Grand Prix, only the second German rider ever to set fastest race lap in the premier-class. The other occasion was when Edmund Czihak set the fastest race lap on his way to winning the 500cc German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in 1974, a race that was boycotted by the top riders due to safety concerns. Folger’s fastest lap in Catalunya was also a lap record – the first time ever that a German rider has set a lap record in the premier-class.
- Hector Barbera finished 9th in Catalunya – his best result in a full dry MotoGP race since he finished eighth at Le Mans last year.
Moto2 Facts and Stats
- Alex Márquez won the second Moto2 race of his career at the Catalan GP, the 60th win for a Spanish rider in this class.
- Mattia Pasini has stood on the podium for the last two successive races; his first back-to-back podiums since 2009 (Donington and Brno).
- Tom Lüthi was third across the line in Montmeló, his 43rd podium finish in the intermediate category. He is the only one who has scored points in every Moto2 race this season.
- Takaaki Nakagami won his first Grand Prix race last year in Assen. Nakagami, Tom Lüthi, Dominique Aegerter and Franco Morbidelli, are the only four riders of the current grid to have stood on the podium in Moto2 at this track.
- Championship leader Franco Morbidelli crossed the line in sixth in Barcelona, his worst dry-weather finishing position since the same venue last year.
- Franco Morbidelli leads the Championship with seven points; this is the lowest margin after the opening seven races of the season since the introduction of the Moto2 class in 2010.
- Along with Mattia Pasini (125cc – 2007), Álex Márquez (Moto3 – 2014), Miguel Oliveira (Moto3 – 2015), Francesco Bagnaia is one of four riders currently racing in Moto2 who has won in the lightweight-class at this circuit.
- Jorge Navarro crossed the line in seventh in Barcelona, his best Moto2 result so far. Last year, he missed the Moto3 race in Assen due to a leg injury.
- Fabio Quartararo finished second at the Dutch TT in 2015 in Moto3, his most recent podium finish.
Moto3 – Facts and Stats
- Joan Mir won his fourth race from the opening seven races in the Catalan GP. This is the first rider to do so since Danny Kent in 2015.
- Joan Mir’s win in Barcelona is his fifth in the Moto3 class, equaling Sandro Cortese, the first Moto3 World Champion.
- Joan Mir leads the standing with a margin of 45 points; this is the second biggest margin in Moto3 after the opening seven races of the year behind Danny Kent in 2015 (51).
- Joan Mir finished eighth at Assen last year during his rookie season in the Moto3 class.
- Romano Fenati crossed the line in the second in Barcelona, the 18th podium finish of his career. Last year, he finished fourth at the Dutch TT from fourth on the grid, his best result on that track.
- Jorge Martin, who started from pole position in Barcelona, crossed the line in third for his fourth podium finish of the year. He is still aiming to win his first Moto3 race. He was injured last year in Assen after a crash sustained in Barcelona and bowed out after FP2. Albert Arenas then took his place.
- Enea Bastianini was fourth in Barcelona, equaling his best result of this season so far. With 560 points scored, he is now fifth on the Moto3 World Championship points standing behind Oliveira (628). He qualified on pole position for the last two years in Assen, but he crossed the line only once – in 6th place in 2015.
- None of the riders currently competing in Moto3 have ever won at the Dutch TT. However, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Andrea Migno have stood on the podium.
- No Moto3 rider has won at the Dutch TT after qualifying on pole since the introduction of the category in 2012.
- Marco Bezzecchi crossed the line in 14th in Barcelona, the best result of his rookie year. He also equaled the best result for Mahindra in 2017.
- Mahindra won the last Moto3 race in Assen, the first Grand Prix win for the Indian manufacturer. Mahindra also recorded their first Moto3 pole position at this track with Miguel Oliveira, back in 2013.
- Bo Bendsneyder crossed the line in ninth last year in Assen, his best result at the time. He will be aiming to become the first Dutch rider to win a Grand Prix race since Hans Spaan in Brno 1990.
