MotoGP Assen: Race preview

All hail the Cathedral: MotoGP arrives in Assen where history meets modernity at a true jewel on the premier class calendar.

It’s called the Cathedral for a reason. Only missing in 2020 due to the changes obliged to the calendar, the TT Circuit Assen has otherwise been a mainstay of motorcycle Grand Prix racing since the world’s first motorsport World Championship began in 1949. The venue has gone from a long street circuit to a shorter but no less incredible track over the seven decades since, creating some of the greatest racing in the world every time we return. In 2022, that time is now!

After deposing the “no Yamaha win since 2009” stat at the Sachsenring, Monster Energy’s Fabio Quartararo arrives on the front foot and with his eye on another - no one’s won back to back at Assen since Valentino Rossi did it in 2004 and 2005. Since Quartararo reigned last year in the Netherlands, it’s within reach… and his form only backs that statement up yet further. Three in a row would be quite a way to head into summer break.

Elsewhere at Yamaha, WithU RNF’s Darryn Binder and Andrea Dovizioso will want more, the latter a former podium finisher at Assen and the former looking for a bounce back before summer break. Franco Morbidelli, meanwhile, continues looking for a big step forward on the Monster Energy M1, the Italian well outside his already conquered postcode of the podium fight so far in 2022.

Aprilia can already raise a smile that one of its worst races of the season so far, all told, is still in fact what the Noale factory would have been aiming for at the start of just last season. “Worst” describing fourth place for Aleix Espargaro still maintains the number 41 second overall in the title fight and was another