2014 Assen MotoGP Results

2014 Assen MotGP Results

Spoiler Alert: 2014 MotoGP results from the Dutch Grand Prix at the Assen TT circuit listed below

Weather had a major impact on round eight of the 2014 MotoGP held Saturday at “The Cathedral” Assen TT circuit.

This affected qualifying, and the top open-class rider so far this season – NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro – capitalized on the wet stuff. He earned the pole Friday ahead of the reigning MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez and his Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa.

The rain continued Saturday ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, but when it began one rider was against dominate – Marquez. The 21-year-old Spaniard led all 26 laps at Assen, achieving victory ahead of Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso and Pedrosa, respectively.

“I was very nervous before. The conditions are what no one wanted, very dangerous. We started on the right tyres as we knew it would dry. To risk slicks was too dangerous. I made a small mistake after swapping. I was happy with second but then it stared raining a tiny bit. After that I settled into a rhythm and I passed Andrea. It was still very hard, I had to stay 100% concentrated,” Marquez says.

“The team had everything under control which helped me a lot, seeing them calm kept me calm. They were so clever. The slick was too dangerous at the start, this was the key decision. I just concentrated on riding. It was hard going from wet to dry. But I felt better with each lap and I had a high pace throughout. I was able to push hard.”

Marquez and Dovi battled at the beginning of the race, but the Honda RC213V pilot was able to pull away from the Ducati GP14. Marquez eventually took the win by 6.7 seconds. His victory allowed him to match the legendary Giacomo Agostini’s record of winning the first-premier class races in a season (Ago achieved this in 1971).

As for Dovizioso, this was his second podium of the year following a third at Texas’ Circuit of the Americas.

Pedrosa was able to hold off Espargaro for third. The Spaniard Espargaro finished ahead of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi, whose pace quickened in the second half of the race. Why? The nine-time World Champion swapped back from slicks to wets at the start. Rossi started from pit lane on wets, therefore, and recovered considerable ground before and after eventually the swap back to slicks, MotoGP said.

Completing the top 10 were Pramac Racing Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Bradley Smith, Ducati Team’s Cal Crutchlow and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl.

Two-time MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo struggled at Assen, finishing 13th. As for the Americans, Drive M7 Aspar’s Nicky Hayden finished 17 as he struggled with his wrist issues, and NGM Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards 22nd.

Broc Parkes (Paul Bird Motorsport) rode superbly to 11th having started from pit lane following a problem on the warm up lap. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) retired with six laps to go after crashes on slicks and then wet tires.

With his win at round eight of 18, Marquez now has a perfect 200 points. He leads the riders tied in second and third by 72 points, Rossi and Pedrosa. In fourth with 91 points is Dovi, and Lorenzo is in fifth with 81.

The 2014 MotoGP Championship now breaks for two weeks before reaching its halfway point at Sachsenring in Germany.

2014 Assen MotoGP Results:

2014 MotoGP Championship Point Standings (after eight of 18 rounds):