MADRID, 27 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish rider Jorge Martín (Ducati) will try to contain the good form of Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and defend his lead in the MotoGP category at the Dutch Grand Prix, the eighth round of the World Motorcycle Championship calendar, which will be headed in Moto2 and Moto3 by fellow Spaniard Sergio García (Kalex) and Colombian David Alonso (CFMoto), respectively.
The championship resumes action after a long break of almost a month that has served mainly to clarify the grid for next season, especially with the movement of the Spanish Marc Márquez from Gresini Racing to the official Ducati team, the most desired gap and which made Jorge Martín end up in Aprilia, from where Maverick Viñales will leave for KTM alongside the Italian Enea Bastianini, and where the Italian Marco Bezzecchi will arrive from Ducati.
With these uncertainties now resolved, the ‘Cathedral’ of Assen will resume the fight for the three titles, with the title of the ‘premier’ category currently in an apparent head-to-head between the current champion and the current runner-up, and with Marc Márquez trying not to fall further behind in this fight before a summer break that will arrive shortly after the German Grand Prix next week.
For the moment, Jorge Martín arrives at the Dutch track with an 18-point advantage over Bagnaia, who closed the gap significantly in his home Grand Prix at Mugello, where he had a perfect weekend with wins in the Sprint and on Sunday, while the Madrid-born driver failed in his specialty, the short Saturday race, where he did not score for the first time this year, and was third in the long race.
In addition, ‘Pecco’, who already has four Sunday victories and also won at Montmeló, arrives at a circuit that suits him quite well, having won in the last two visits, to which must be added his triumphs in Moto2 (2018) and Moto3 (2016). Now his goal is to make it a hat-trick, something that has not been seen at Assen for a long time, since the last to do so was the Australian Mick Doohan, who chained five consecutive victories between 1994 and 1998.
Martín has not been so good at this track, where last year he was fifth, his best result in MotoGP, although on Sunday he was the fastest, which still did not allow him to reach the podium weighed down by a bad qualifying ( tenth). In 2018 he has his only joy in ‘La Catedral’, the 2018 victory in Moto3.
Further away from the two favorites is Marc Márquez, whose improvement with the ‘Demosedici’ on the weekends is notable, but who has not yet been able to achieve those long-awaited victories that he needs to be able to present his firm candidacy. The one from Cervera was fourth in Mugello to drop 35 points from the lead and now he will try to wage ‘war’ on a circuit where he has the victories with Honda in 2014 and 2018.
The rest of the favorites will surely start from the rest of the Ducatis on the grid for a weekend where the weather could play a key role if it finally ends up raining, a probability that could occur on Sunday. And of the 21 podiums that have been awarded this season, 15 have been from the Italian brand, which has completely dominated the last four Grand Prix.
The Aprilias of the Spanish Maverick Viñales, the only winner not from Ducati (GP Las Américas), and Aleix Espargaró, and the KTM, especially of the young man from Murcia, Pedro Acosta, the only rider capable of reaching the podium twice without riding a Desmosedici, will try to put him the difficult things to the Borgo Panigale brand. Among them there will be neither Joan Mir nor Luca Marini, whose goal is to have the most productive weekend possible, especially the Italian who has not yet scored any points.
SERGIO GARCÍA DEFENDS LEAD IN MOTO2
In the Moto2 and Moto3 categories, the picture is different, with Spaniard Sergio García Dols (Kalex) defending his lead in the intermediate class and Colombian David Alonso (CFMoto) trying to extend his good moment to open a good gap.
The Castellón rider is only seven points ahead of American Joe Roberts (Kalex), winner at Mugello where the leader could only manage fourth. At the moment, both seem to be the strongest and most consistent in this first stage, being the only ones who have passed the 100-point barrier.
For his part, Alonso hopes that this long break does not affect him in his current great moment after chaining three consecutive victories in Le Mans, Montmeló and Mugello that have helped him surpass the Spanish Dani Holgado (KTM), who has added 12 points in the last two events and is already more than one race behind the Colombian (37 points), whom he cannot let escape any further.
2024-06-27 16:00:43
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