Round eight of the MotoGP™ World Championship sees the paddock head to the legendary TT Circuit Assen, where we’ll witness the race take place in July for the first time since 1955.
Originally 7.705km in length, Assen’s short circuit has seen several modifications and updates to its famous layout, which now sits at 4.542km long. This layout is composed of six left and twelve right corners, a mix of sweeping high speed curves and slower bends that form the ‘Cathedral’ - the only track to have remained on the calendar since the introduction of Grand Prix motorcycle racing.
Despite the challenging and technical design, Assen isn’t a venue that is particularly severe on the front tyres, with Michelin bringing soft, medium and hard symmetric compounds. On the other hand, the rear tyres will be asymmetric, with the right-hand-side consisting of a harder compound to cope with the added stress of Assen’s fast right curves.
Assen is the most northern track on the MotoGP™ calendar and is no stranger to wet weather, so Michelin will bring soft and medium rain tyres to the Netherlands, with the rears having the same asymmetrical design as the slicks.
Pierre Taramasso – Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager commented: “Assen is one of the most popular circuits with the riders, but because they like it so much it does not make our task any easier, in fact it means there are more demands and expectations as they all want to perform well there as the circuit has such a great history. It is a very technical track and what you do in one corner can really dictate your performance and position further down the track. The riders demand good grip from the rear to manage the long, fast corners, but there also needs to be an instant response from the rear asymmetric due to the rapid changes of direction on this narrow track. There is always a concern over the weather and temperatures at Assen, so we have to be prepared with tyres to cover the whole spectrum and give everyone a tyre they can use on race day – no matter what is the weather – this is what we have organised and we have a complete allocation for all situations.”