The historic Dutch TT brings an end to a hectic run of four races in five weeks for the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team, as Sam Lowes and Augusto Fernandez aim to head into the extended summer break on a high note.

The legendary Assen track in Holland returns to the calendar this weekend before the Moto2 World Championship heads into a five-week summer sojourn ahead of the title chase resuming in Austria on August 8.

The 24-lap race is due to get underway at 1220pm local time on Sunday and Lowes and Fernandez go into the Cathedral of Speed clash ready to bring home strong results.


AUGUSTO FERNANDEZ

Fernandez was unfortunate to be denied the chance to challenge for the top 10 last weekend in Germany after contact from Jake Dixon resulted in a crash, which makes him doubly determined to make amends in Assen.

The Dutch TT holds special memories for the 23-year-old Spaniard, who came from 13th on the grid to secure his first Grand Prix victory in stunning fashion against Brad Binder in 2019.

“Assen is such a special place for me”

“I’m excited to go back to Assen because it is such a special place for me. I won my first race in the World Championship there and I have really good memories. This track has always been good for me, and I can’t wait to start after the zero in Sachsenring. That was not our fault, but I was feeling great on the bike and I’ve a lot of confidence going into Assen because I think the base setting we have is working on different tracks and I’ve no doubt we can be competitive again. The goal will be to fight at the front, but it is also important to finish to collect some points to make the World Championship position better.”

SAM LOWES

A difficult weekend at the Sachsenring ended with Lowes producing a performance full of controlled aggression and brilliant overtaking to fight his way through from 14th to fifth at the chequered flag.

Lowes feels ready to return to the podium battle again in Assen after he started and finished third in Assen back in 2015.

“My aim is to go into the summer break with a lot of confidence”

“I’m really looking forward to Assen because it was good to leave the Sachsenring with some very good points after a complicated weekend. Assen is a great track that I enjoy and it’s great to have fans back as well and I can’t wait to get started. Assen is a place I tend to go well at and my aim will be to spray some champagne on the podium on Sunday to go into the summer break with a lot of confidence. The last two races have shown we’re not far away and one target this weekend will be to qualify a bit higher up like we were doing at the start of the season and that will help us fight for the podium.”