The 2016 MotoGP™ World Championship has already thrown Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) a fair few curveballs, the Dutch GP proving no different. For the first time in his fledgling premier class career, the former Moto2™ World champion raced in the wet. It proved to be an unusual race even by wet race standards, the red flag coming out halfway through the race due to a lack of visibility. Like the professional he is, Rabat took it all in his stride and made positive progress during both phases of the race.
On the fifth lap of the restart Rabat fell, picking himself and his Honda RC213V up to secure 11th place. This is Rabat’s fifth point scoring finish of 2016 and allowed the Spaniard to show the progress he has made as a wet weather rider.
Difícil carrera en Assen! Me llevo 5 valiosos puntos! A difficult race at Assen! P11 and 5 points. Satisfied! pic.twitter.com/Ba5AsbPFEd
— TitoRabat (@TitoRabat) June 26, 2016
Tito Rabat: “It was a very difficult race and tricky conditions but I am happy to score more points. In the second race I’d got into the top 10 and felt I had a very good pace. I’m not normally so confident in the rain conditions but I felt really comfortable. I tried to pass Bautista because I was quite a bit faster than him in the last two sectors but I carried a bit more lean angle at turn 11 and it was a huge mistake because I crashed. I was lucky to be able to rejoin the race and I’m happy to finish and gain a lot of experience of the bike, tyres and electronics in the race. I want to say big congratulations to Jack and the whole team for the victory today. He rode an unbelievable race and deserved his victory.”