Round 9 – Holland Grand Prix (Assen)
SECOND CONSECUTIVE RACE FOR PRAMAC D’ANTIN
TEAM, THE HALF SEASON APPOINTMENT
Concluded the eight race at Donington Park, Pramac d’
Antin Team moves to Holland to face the second consecutive
North European appointment, that represents the ninth world
championship MotoGP round.
This time too, it will not be a simple race for the Pramac
d’Antin guys who should compete one more time in a very
technical track, surely not so easy from the set-up point
of view, even though the Ducati Desmosedici demonstrated to
be competitive in every kind of track. Another point of advantage
could be the Bridgestone tires that last year proved to be
able to reach the podium.
Alex Barros, MotoGP veteran, has been many times one of the
main protagonists on the Dutch TT circuit winning in 2000,
getting the second place on podium in 2002 and other podium
placements for many years from 1992 to 1996.
The Brazilian, now the eight in the world championship classification,
should give his best to obtain a good result and getting more
points.
For Alex Hofmann this will be like a second home race, where
the German rider will be surrounded by a lot of fans giving
him further motivation and force to confirm the top-ten he
got in England too.
The race week-end will start on Thursday 26th June with free
practise ending with the race that will take place on Saturday
at 2:00 pm local time.
Alex Barros (60 points – 8th place in the championship):
“I was always fast and I obtained many good results
on Assen track. In 2000 I won the race and in 2002 I achieved
the second place on podium. For this year too I’m confident
both because I believe in the work of my team and because
we have at our disposal a very competitive package bike-tires.
Despite of the numerous changes carried out on this track
that have made it less spectacular in comparison with the
past, I like it. Generally, I’m agree in making some
modifications on circuits for reason of security, but in this
case I can’t understand why people decided to alter
the Dutch TT circuit, considered a sort of university of motorcycling.”
Alex Hofmann (45 points – 11th place in the
championship): “Even if the track is not as
beautiful as it was in the past years, I like it, above all
thanks to the fact that is really near to Germany and for
me this will be like riding at home. Certainly there will
be a lot of friends to support me and this makes me very happy.
It is always a touching ride when you have a lot of fans,
because the atmosphere becomes more exciting. I want to be
good to confirm the top-ten I obtained in Donington and maybe
be able to achieve a better result. I’m sure I can reach
my aim.”
Luis d’Antin – Team Manager:
“Assen is one of the races where we have the possibility
to reach the podium, especially if we consider the results
that Bridgestone and Ducati have obtained till today. Furthermore
the Team is working hard and very well and this contributes
to give more confidence to the project.
THE CIRCUIT
The Assen circuit is the longest circuit in the MotoGP championship
and it has been recently restructured; here takes place every
year the Gran Prix competition. The circuit is also know as
ASSEN-TT.
Opened: 2006
Modified: 2005
Length: 4555m
Width: 14m
Longest Straight: 560m
Right turns: 11
Left turns: 6
Pole position: left
Final Results 2006 –MotoGP Class
1° Nicky Hayden: 42’27.404;
2° Shinia Nakano: 42’32.288;
3° Dani Pedrosa: 42’34.929;
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