Honda’s defending World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) claimed an eighth win in eight races at the Dutch TT today, with team-mate Dani Pedrosa joining him on the podium to make a double celebration for the factory team, in a race made complicated by typically unsettled Assen weather.

Victory in the all-Honda Moto2 class was backed by first and second in an exciting Moto3 race ensuring every Dutch TT winner today was powered by Honda.

The 21-year-old Marquez had to conquer treacherously changeable conditions at the classic 4.542-km Assen circuit, where rain showers alternated with clear spells on a surface that dries quickly. It made tyre tactics crucial, and dictated a mid-race change of bikes in the first flag-to-flag event this year.

Most riders started the 26-lapper on wet tyres, and Marquez led a tentative field away for the first five laps, pursued by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) on a track that was drying quickly.

At the end of lap six Marquez was the first into the pits to change to a bike with slick tyres to suit the changed conditions, followed directly by Dovizioso. But the Italian took over the lead as Marquez narrowly survived a slide on his out lap that took him off the track onto the run-off, losing four seconds on his rival.

Marquez was able to whittle away at the gap, finally catching and directly passing Dovizioso on lap 16. From there he was unchallenged to the end, and had enough time to spare to mime the actions of a swimmer over the line, lying on the tank of his class-leading RC213V Honda with his legs kicking out behind.

Former 125 and Moto2 World Champion Marquez is already the youngest ever World Champion, winning at his first attempt on the Repsol Honda last season. His eighth win in eight races is another significant boost to his ever-growing lead on points this year, now 72 points, with the season not yet halfway over.

Third place for a second successive race also boosted former 125cc and double 250cc champion Pedrosa’s position. The experienced Repsol Honda RC213V rider is now equal on points for second overall with Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), who finished fifth today.

Pedrosa pitted for a bike change one lap after Marquez, having closed up on fast-starting pole qualifier Aleix Espargaro (Yamaha). They came out of the pits almost together, and were furiously engaged for much of the rest of the race, changing places a number of times, before Pedrosa managed to claim a decisive advantage with eight laps remaining.

The many pit stops and frequently changing fortunes made it a complicated race to follow for the huge crowd of 90,000; all the more so when rain started to fall again briefly after 12 laps, though it never amounted to a real shower.

The other Honda riders endured mixed fortunes as a result.

Former 125 champion Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) recovered from a poor start to take seventh, among a to-and-fro group of five riders. German former Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) bounced back after slipping off on the sighting lap to finish tenth.

GO&FUN Honda Gresini RCV1000R rider Scott Redding was best of the four production-racer Hondas, built to new Open category rules, with 12th place. Czech racer Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RCV1000R) was 14th; but Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R team-mates Hiroshi Aoyama and Nicky Hayden were out of the points, crossing the line 16th and 17th respectively. Aoyama is a former 250cc World Champion, and Hayden the 2006 MotoGP champion, both on Hondas.

The next race is the German GP at Sachsenring in two weeks.



Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: 1st

“It was a tough day because this was a race where I could have lost many points, but we were still able to extend our lead in the championship. So I’m very pleased with how it has gone and how we dealt with the flag-to-flag. It was our first experience of a race like this, with both wet and dry conditions, and we even had a little scare after the bike change. We are very happy with this victory and to have got a very important 25 points on a weekend we had circled on the calendar as possibly difficult.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd

“It was a very difficult race and even a bit chaotic at first, when it came to having to decide which tyres to put on the bike. I kept a cool head and chose the option of wets, because at first the track was a little damp. I should have pushed more on the opening laps as the track began to dry out – but I chose not to in case it rained again. The rain didn’t come and I had a good fight with Aleix for the podium in the dry. I am happy to have taken the rostrum finish, because you never know how races like today’s might go. This one went well for us and we are now focusing on doing a good job in Germany.”

Alvaro Bautista, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 7th

“Today we faced very tricky conditions. We went to the starting grid with the bike set for dry conditions, but it started to rain so we had a new starting procedure in order to change the bike for the wet. Then when we went back to the starting grid, the track was already drying out in some areas. In the early laps I felt comfortable in the wet and I was able to overtake some riders in front of me, but after only four laps we had to change the bike because the track at that point was already almost dry. With the other bike I hadn’t the same feeling, I struggled a lot to get the tyres to the right temperature. In the end seventh is not too bad, even if we were very close to the top five. However, after the retirement in Barcelona we needed to end the race and take some points.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 10th

“It was a disappointing weekend for us and a crazy race which I did not enjoy at all. I crashed during the sighting lap on my dry bike and I immediately thought that I was living a nightmare. I tried to jump back on my bike but it was very damaged so I climbed over the wall running back to my garage to take the second bike. It was set-up for wet conditions and in that moment it was raining so we started the race like this but for me it was tough for me to find the right feeling in the wet. Unfortunately I was not fast enough and it took me too much time to find the speed. After some laps I entered the pits to swap the bike to go but it was probably too late…. maybe I should have done it one lap earlier. But even in the dry we missed some speed to perform well. I am really looking forward to my home race now because I can count on the support of my crowd.”

Scott Redding, GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 12th

“Today was my first MotoGP race in the wet, so to be honest I was a bit scared in the beginning because I didn’t know what to expect. We started from the back of the grid with rain tyres, but I was not too sure about track conditions, so in the early stages I was quite slow because I struggled to understand the tyres in these conditions. After only a few laps when the track started to dry out, I came into the pits to change the bike. We chose a good time to do it and we made a good gap. In the dry I was quite fast, I passed Lorenzo and then I followed Pol Espargaro and this gave me big motivation; when Pol crashed I had just to maintain the same lap times. It feels good to be the first Open Class Honda in these tricky conditions.”

Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing Honda: 14th

“It was pretty crazy race from the beginning. The starting procedure was confusing, so I missed the chance to do two sighting laps. My team did very good job while changing the bike: on the other hand if we had done two laps earlier, we would have had a higher position. However this result is very positive. I was able to overtake many riders in our group and leave them far behind me. And I cut a lot from the gap between me and Redding in the end. If we had better luck and better tactics, the result should be much better.”

Hiroshi Aoyama, Drive M7 Aspar Honda: 16th

“Today we had a very tough race, especially from the moment that we had to swap bikes. I felt very comfortable with the wet setup at the start. We were able to push hard and gain positions as we closed in on the front-runners. When the track dried out I found it hard to change bikes. On the bike with the dry setup my feeling was worse and I was not as fast as yesterday. I lost many positions as a result. This weekend I had a new front fork available that has allowed me to ride faster, and although the result was not what we had hoped for I am happy with the way I felt at this Grand Prix. I hope that in Germany we can get a better result.”

Nicky Hayden, Drive M7 Aspar Honda, 17th

“The conditions for today’s race were quite tough. Even so, I started pretty well in the wet. The bike worked perfectly at the start of the race, which allowed me to enjoy riding and overtake several riders. Unfortunately for us it did not continue raining and the track dried out, so we had to change bikes. Leaving the pits I noticed something strange in the acceleration of the bike. I also had some problems with the front end that prevented me from pushing hard. During the two laps after changing bikes I lost a lot of time and positions. Also, in the dry I did not manage to go as fast as I had expected. This weekend has been quite frustrating for us. Now it is time to focus on Germany and a good result there to take the bad taste from this round away.”

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