The Frenchman, who arrives in Assen with a 34-point lead in second place in MotoGP, wants to take advantage of another of his favorite scenarios
The Motorcycle World Championship is halfway through and now reaches the test ahead of the start of a five-week summer break slated for the cancellation of the Finnish Grand Prix, which was initially scheduled for the weekend of 10 July. A desired break for many drivers, after a start to the year that has strained the transfer market excessively. This period of inactivity will also be a good thing for Pedro Acosta, who had surgery this Thursday in Barcelona for the fracture of the femur he sustained while racing in Murcia on Tuesday. And the mythical circuit of Assen receives the participants with the threat of heavy rain for Friday, albeit with weather that should improve over the days.
A breath of fresh air for the once again big favorite for the win, MotoGP leader Fabio Quartararo. Although the Frenchman has improved in his wet handling (he finished second in the Indonesian test under heavy rain), the confidence with which he faces this part of the season has made him prefer racing on a dry surface. job in an environment where he won as early as 2021. That day, Quartararo increased his lead in the general classification over second, his compatriot Johann Zarco, who had finished fourth; with another positive sign, second place from his teammate at the time, Maverick Vinales, who had also signed the post.
“It has been a year of learning, not giving up and working very hard,” Vinales reflected on one of the turning points of his 2021. It was a few days after he finished second in the Netherlands in the summer, when the Catalan announced that he will not continue with Yamaha in 2022; in Austria, at the next Grand Prix, everything exploded. The Japanese house fired him and within a few weeks Aprilia opened its doors to him. “Not everything is given. Until today I have done my best every day, in the gym, at home, with my family, with everyone I have a relationship with… When I left Assen 2021, I promised myself that I would return to number 1”, he acknowledged, after making his first appearance at the Sachsenring in the front positions of a race. He started ninth, was aggressive in the opening laps and in no time was behind the wheel of his teammate Aleix Espargaró battling for third place. Until his bike had a technical problem that forced him to retire.
At least a hint about the chances of a driver who has won three times at Assen, with a total of seven podium places. “It could come here in Assen … it could come in Silverstone, or it could come in the race I least expect because the Sachsenring wasn’t a track I thought I could do and I went for it. You have to be open-minded be and be prepared for the opportunity,” Vinales accepted his options at a track where his teammate already showed up last year.
And it is that Aleix Espargaró again wants to become the biggest rival of the leader, although he has escaped in the last two races: in Catalonia and in Germany, Quartararo won, while his Aprilia lost a second place on that first Sunday to finish fifth, while in the second he could only finish fourth. Some of the results that changed the face of competitiveness in the category and now left the current champion as the clear favourite.
As 2022 began, the roster, of course, included Quartararo, but also Marc Márquez, sidelined due to surgery, Joan Mir, plunged into a results crisis (ninth overall, 103 points behind first), and Pecco Bagnaia, who “added three outs in the last five races, putting him at 91 points from a driver who has three drivers behind him that no one had bet on at the start of the year: the aforementioned Espargaró, Johann Zarco (who finished fifth, fourth, third and second in the last four Grands Prix) and Enea Bastianini, who despite three wins this year shows a line too inconsistent to keep a rider up at night, Quartararo, who shuttles his final in Assen to keep his crown.
Source: La Verdad
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