The combination of Assen, the wet and Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) is not one that has often produced great results. Lorenzo’s fortunes didn’t change as the 250th MotoGP™ World Championship race began on a wet track. Off the line he made a great start, aggressively working his way up to fifth from tenth on the grid within just a few corners. But then he found himself struggling as the conditions changed, the track drying out, and before long he was down in 19th position with no hope of a finish in the points. With 12 laps to go the red flag was brought out as torrential rain hit Assen, offering Lorenzo at least a chance of redemption in a 12-lap restart.
From the back of the grid, Lorenzo rode a safe race in the restart, the conditions catching out a huge number of riders including Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) out the front. Progress was slow but the reigning World Champion was eventually able to pick his way up to tenth place and salvage six points. He now heads to the Sachsenring in second overall, 24 points behind Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and 18 points clear of Valentino Rossi in third.
"Marquez also scored a lot of points today, but Rossi, who could have recovered points, lost a lot"Jorge Lorenzo: “In the first race I was in 19th place and the last rider. I was even thinking about stopping because the conditions on the track were terrible, but I kept riding and they stopped the race. We restarted the race with less water on the track and a soft rear tyre and, though I was one of the last ones and there were many crashers, I gained more confidence than I had in the first race. These are important points for the championship, in the first race I would not have scored any. Marquez also scored a lot of points today, but Rossi, who could have recovered points, lost a lot. Ultimately we were able to save a difficult weekend. Before Le Mans we were also around 24 points behind and now we are more or less in the same situation, after two difficult races, so we have to think positive and keep in mind that we still have a lot of races to recover the gap to Marquez.”