- 2017-06-26
-
SPORTS
-
-
Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ MotoGP Assen: Valentino Rossi Takes His First Victory of The 2017 Season
The Round 8 on MotoGP 2017, Assen Grand Prix ran at TT Circuit Assen on June 25. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) took his first victory of this season in the Dutch TT at Assen, ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) with 0.063 seconds gap. This result is his 115th win more than 20 years after his first. Also, he won since 2016 Catalan GP.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was 3rd place, beating Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) by 0.042 at the flag.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) finished 4th, who emerged from it all with the championship lead. Rossi's Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales crashed out on 5 laps.
Pole position start Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) had led the opening laps, but his front wheel made contact with Rossi's rear on 6 laps, the rookie finished 14th.
This result marks Dovizioso now leads the points by four from Vinales, while Rossi moves up to third, only seven off the lead. Marquez is 11 behind Dovizioso in fourth.
Valentino Rossi (P1):
“It’s a very important victory, not only for the Championship but the feeling – coming back to number one is fantastic, after one year. I race motorcycles for this feeling, for how I feel for five or six hours after the race – especially after a year without victory. It was a great race, a great battle with Petrucci and from a technical standpoint I’m happy. We’ve worked on the bike and changed the chassis, and now it’s like I’m more able to ride it in my way, in a better way. Everything is open, and from one track to it another can change a lot – so we have to wait and see at Sachsenring. But I’m so happy for my tenth victory here after coming tenth in Barcelona – and they’re two of my favourite tracks so I’m so happy to be able to win ten times. The first moment I became optimistic about winning was when I had good pace and I was able to increase my advantage, then it started to rain! It was very difficult because it’s easy to make a small mistake and throw everything away. But after I battled with Danilo and I saw everyone stayed calm, I pushed a little bit in the last two laps and it was enough!”
Danilo Petrucci (P2):
"It was a great race! At the beginning we were quite calm, following Zarco and then when I saw Valentino go in front, I tried to follow him. I think in the dry he was faster but then the rain came and it was quite difficult. I tried a lot to get in front but it was too risky, then I noticed I was a bit faster in Turn 12 in the acceleration, my Ducati was faster - and I passed him with four laps to go, but he overtook me again. Then on the last lap I found Rins and almost crashed passing him, so I'd lost valentino. But I'm happy, it's a great result but I felt the win very close. The common thing from yesterday was that I was in front and then lost out at the end - then again today I was in front and then lost at the end! Here I wanted to be very strong, and I'm happy because next week we're in Germany, a track I like where last year I was on the second row in the dry and led the race in the wet. I'm also happy for the Championship because we're quite close - and I'm always there, even me! I like being here..."
Marc Marquez (P3):
"In the dry on Friday I'd already seen that the Yamaha riders were a step ahead of us, and we were struggling a lot with stability. You could see in the race I was shaking, but we were able to be there and on the podium, which was the target. When there was more rain it was so difficult. I had a big moment early in the race and then when the rain came, so I said 'ok' and started to cool down a bit. I saw Danilo and Valentino were pushing a lot but I was able to be there. The last lap was fun with Cal and Dovizioso and we'll take these 16 points. After the first part of the season to be only 11 points behind is really good. We need something more but we'll get there. Sachsenring is a circuit I like, and it works well for my riding style and for Honda. For this season there's new asphalt so we'll see when we get there but it's a circuit where I feel strong - time to attack."
Motul TT Assen MotoGP Race Results:- Valentino Rossi / Movistar Yamaha MotoGP / 41'41.149s
- Danilo Petrucci / Octo Pramac Racing / 41'41.212s
- Marc Marquez / Repsol Honda Team / 41'46.350s
- Cal Crutchlow / LCR Honda / 41'46.392s
- Andrea Dovizioso / Ducati Team / 41'46.476s
- Jack Miller / Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS / 42'4.539s
- Karel Abraham / Pull&Bear Aspar Team / 42'18.131s
- Loris Baz / Reale Avintia Racing / 42'18.207s
- Andrea Iannone / Team Suzuki Ecstar / 42'18.315s
- Aleix Espargaro / Factory Aprilia Gresini / 42'43.078s
- Pol Espargaro / Red Bull KTM Factory Racing / 42'50.533s
- Tito Rabat / Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS / 42'51.270s
- Dani Pedrosa / Repsol Honda Team / 42'51.493s
- Johann Zarco / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / 43'16.804s
- Jorge Lorenzo / Ducati Team / +1 lap
- Hector Barbera / Reale Avintia Racing / +1 lap
- Alex Rins / Team Suzuki Ecstar / +1 lap
All photos copyright by MotoGP.- source : MotoGP
