Round eight of the MotoGP™ World Championship will see battle done on the historic TT Circuit Assen, the oldest circuit on the World Championship calendar and one which has never missed a season. In 2014 it saw Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) take his first MotoGP™ pole position, and on an Open Yamaha no less. With a solid day of testing after the Barcelona race under his belt, don’t rule the Spaniard out of a repeat performance in 2016. Suzuki have been working hard and the bike continues to get stronger with each weekend. The day of testing allowed he and his crew to explore the various chassis options Suzuki have developed recently, Espargaro leaning towards the ‘standard’ frame. In 2015 Espargaro took ninth aboard the GSX-RR at the Motul TT Assen, his fourth top ten of the season.
Team Suzuki Ecstar announced that Alex Rins will join Andrea Iannone and form their 2017 and 2018 team and thus leaving Aleix Espargaro without a bike for the coming year. Scenarios such as these happen often to riders and remaining focused on the job at hand is an important part of the job. His future is still uncertain, but a strong result in Assen is the best possible way for Espargaro to set himself up for another competitive ride.
Aleix Espargaro: “Assen is one of my favourite tracks in the championship and with the improvements we have done lately I believe we can do a good race. From the test in Barcelona two weeks ago, I found a better direction for the development. I will probably go back to the standard chassis as we found some very interesting options in the set-up that can be further explored and exploited. At the end of the test last Monday I did many laps because I felt very comfortable and had a clear perception that we were moving ahead. This continuous improvement, together with the layout of the TT circuit, gives me a further enthusiasm towards this next race.”