MotoGP – The Dutch Grand Prix 250 lap by lap –

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The Dutch Grand Prix 250 lap by lap

MotoGP - The Dutch Grand Prix 250 lap by lap -

For its 60th edition, the Assen GP has many surprises in store for the 250 drivers: if the strong men of the championship are there, some would like to take advantage of the changing conditions to play the outsiders ! Round by round.

Determined to finally get the best of his rival in this half of the championship, the Spaniard Alavaro Bautista arrives in Batavian soil with a knife between his teeth: if Marco Simoncelli signs the best time on Thursday morning ahead of Bautista and Barbera, the n ° 19 retorts in a beautiful way in the afternoon by taking the lead in the first qualifying session !

Good pick for the protege of Aspar Martinez who will remain at the top of the standings the next day, without having to force it since his time of the day before could not be beaten by Simoncelli because of a track made more difficult by the rain. The two men largely lead the debates since only Barbera and Debon manage to stay within a second of the two opponents! As for the Finnish Mika Kallio, he seems in difficulty and will only start from the tenth position.

The race !

Departure : Marco Simoncelli achieves the hole shot, but Thomas Luthi’s Aprilia comes to pack him outside the first right: the Italian loses all the benefit of his efforts and downgrades by several positions…

Spaniard Alex Debon took the lead ahead of a wild Thomas Luthi and Aleix Espargaro. Julian Simon, Mika Kallio, Yuki Takahashi, Hector Barbera and Fabrizio Laï follow. Russel Gomez makes a mistake in a fast left: the pilot is stunned, but gets up unscathed.

Julian Simon gets rid of the black Aprilia Lotus by Aleix Espargaro. At the same time, Thomas Luthi tries an attack outside the experienced Debon who resists! Stubborn, the n ° 12 reiterates as the last chicane approaches: the Swiss passed Alex Debon from the inside in the famous G.T Bocht and finished the loop in the lead !

2nd round : After his first podium in 250 at Mugello, Luthi is now leading a Grand Prix ahead of Alex Debon who himself has a few steps ahead of Julian Simon, Aleix Espargaro, Mika Kallio and Yuki Takahashi. Hector Barbera was joined by Alvaro Bautista who missed the start of the race. A big loser in the first moments of the race too, Marco Simoncelli only appeared in twelfth place…

3rd and 4th rounds : The Swiss pilot passes the timing line for the second time in front of Debon, Simon, Espargaro, Kallio and Bautista who has just passed Hector Barbera.

Feverish, Thomas Luthi takes a lot of risks on the hard braking, putting a lot of stress on the front of his official Aprilia: this does not prevent the n ° 12 from increasing his lead by slamming the best lap time! Mika Kallio realizes the interior on Aleix Espargaro and steals the fourth position from him. In the process, the Finnish goes to the middle of the track to take the advantage over Simon at the start of a fast left !

Aleix Espargaro takes the opportunity to also pass his compatriot under the greedy eyes of Alavaro Bautista and Hector Barbera. The n ° 19 will try to pass Simon’s KTM for the first time, before diving into the rope in a fast right, thus surprising the Spanish rider! Barbera does the same when braking the short straight at the back of the circuit: the n ° 21 has seen the ultra fast pace of Bautista and wants to use it to get back to the front of the race following the protege of Aspar Martinez! This one passes Espargaro by the interior and immediately sets out to hunt on Mika Kallio !

The Finn does not have time to develop a strategy to resist Bautista, who already brakes mid-track at the entrance to the last chicane and plunges into the first straight under the wheels of the KTM n ° 36 !

5th and 6th rounds : Bautista thus finds himself in third position behind Alex Debon who is already 1.8 seconds behind the surprising Thomas Luthi! Mika Kallio is solid fourth ahead of Debon’s teammate Aleix Espargaro. Marco Simoncelli returned to tenth position just behind Yuki Takahashi, just ahead of Mattia Pasini. Hector Barbera dives inside Espargaro’s machine and exits the De Bult turn in front of the driver at n ° 41! Boosted, Barbera glued to Kallio’s KTM in the rapid sequence and stole fourth place on the first braking of the track! Slightly distracted, the Finnish misses his point, which benefits Espargaro just behind !

For his part, Alvaro Bautista comes back very hard on Debon from whom he takes three tenths by partial: the Spaniard should be caught within a few turns … It is done from the next sector, where Bautista tries an outside virile on Debon: the experienced pilot never lets go, even when his rival’s knee rubs against the fairing of his Aprilia Lotus! Not calmed down for all that, Alvaro Bautista retries an interior in a mouse hole in the ultra-fast Meeuwenmeer breakout: Alex Debon is this time forced to give in to such a rage to win !

7th and 8th laps : Thomas Luthi still has a handful of seconds ahead of the Bautista rocket, but the pace of this one is consequently higher! Alex Debon was also taken down in just four turns by the friendly 125 world champion! Simoncelli returns to the strength of his wrist on the two official KTMs which are in 5th and 6th places: the Italian must bitterly regret Luthi’s maneuver at the start of the race, because his race pace would have placed him in the leading trio !

9th and 10th laps : Thomas Luthi is only two seconds ahead of Bautista who returns to the Swiss turn after turn. The two pilots have literally forgotten the rest of the competition: the next one, Alex Debon, is already more than two seconds behind n ° 19 !

Aoyama gets the best of his teammate at the start of a fast left, while Simoncelli is already starting to be pressing on Mika Kallio: he misses at the start of the first chicane and is immediately overtaken by the n ° 58! Julian Simon follows the battle from afar, preceding Pasini, Takahashi and Espargaro who has seriously demoted.

11th and 12th rounds : Bautista’s ascent to Luthi is more and more substantial, since the Mapfre rider has recovered more than a second in two laps at Aprilia n ° 12! Marco Simoncelli passed Aoyama and seems able to quickly come back to fourth, Hector Barbera. Big disappointment for Mattia Pasini who falls again this weekend, fortunately without damage.

13th and 14th laps : Alavaro Bautista has now joined Thomas Luthi under the delighted (but slightly worried!) Eyes of his team manager, Aspar Martinez: "I hope Alvaro will keep his concentration until the end", confides the former world champion,"there are still twelve laps to go and given his racing pace, maybe he should rest a little behind Luthi before attacking"…

But his pilot obviously does not hear it that way: he unhooks without striking the Aprilia which precedes him at the entrance to Ramshoek! Bautista is at 110% of his driving, as evidenced by a blockage of his front wheel near the last chicane: hot !

Behind, the fight is terrible for fourth place: appearing four abreast at the chicane following the bend Stekkenwal, Aoyama, Simoncelli and Kallio see Hector Barbera attempt a desperate braking at the entrance of the chicane! But that does not pass for the Spaniard, obliged to go out in the loophole: the n ° 21 does not cut the throttle and leaves again ball in head on the narrow strip of asphalt which brings him back on the track! Without even glancing at the arriving pilots, Barbera shamelessly throws himself under Kallio’s fairing, forced to violently raise his machine. !

Concentrated, the Finn succeeds however in recovering the best on the Spanish who should be sanctioned for this maneuver "limit", but especially prohibited by the regulations.

15th and 16th rounds : Simoncelli passes Aoyama in favor of an interior and takes third position, while Barbera makes the same mistake as before and returns once again on the track without worrying about the presence of Alex Good ! The two KTM riders took advantage of a slight error by Simoncelli to regain his place, but the n ° 58 fought and immediately returned to Kallio thanks to an implacable interior !

The rain reappears, upsetting the pace of the race a little: Kallio takes the opportunity to pass Simoncelli at the entrance of the last chicane, while Luthi easily picks up Bautista at the head of the race! The Swiss also passed the Spanish a few bends further: at the start of the sixteenth loop, Thomas Luthi had already stuck four tenths to Bautista, who was playing caution on this changing surface. Alex Debon, very strong in these random conditions, passes Barbera while Kallio takes again the best on Marco Simoncelli !

17th and 18th laps : Thomas Luthi seems incredibly comfortable on slick tires on a half-fig, half-grape track: the Swiss are now two seconds ahead of n ° 19! The indestructible Marco Simoncelli passes in quick succession the KTMs of Kallio and Aoyama and immediately tries to widen a slight gap.

When the rain stops, Bautista regains his confidence and immediately returns to a second behind Luthi: what twists and turns in this race !

19th and 20th laps : Simoncelli, now virtually on the podium, contains the assaults of Kallio, Debon and Aoyama. Barbera is a bit off behind, ahead of Takahashi’s Honda by almost two seconds.

Alvaro Bautista regains the lead at the cost of a superb interior on Luthi at the entrance of the far left which precedes the last chicane: if the rain does not reappear, Bautista should be able to maintain his leadership. But otherwise…

21st and 22nd laps : Alex Debon passed fourth in front of Kallio, Aoyama and Barbera who managed to come back slightly on the group in front of him: he passed Aoyama and Kallio a few bends later.

23rd round : Bautista concrete ahead with almost two seconds ahead, while Luthi is slightly caught by Marco Simoncelli: with four seconds ahead of the Italian, the n ° 12 should however be able to contain his return.

Last round : Alvaro Bautista headed for a well-deserved victory, ahead of Thomas Luthi and Marco Simoncelli by several seconds. Barbera emerges once again in "his" chicane and returns to the track as if nothing had happened !

The n ° 19 wins in wheeling ahead of Thomas Luthi, Marco Simoncelli, Alex Debon, Hector Barbera, Hiroshi Aoyama and Mika Kallio only seventh.

In the general classification, Mika Kallio retains his first place by just one point over Marco Simoncelli, himself 26 points behind Alex Debon.

Alvaro Bautista took advantage of his victory to return to fourth place overall, 38 points behind the leader. Mattia Pasini continues to downgrade and is now in fifth place ahead of Barbera, Aoyama and Takahashi.

They are explained:

Alvaro Bautista (1st) : "It was a good race, especially for the championship! I had good feelings, I was confident and this is my third consecutive podium. The day was difficult, with the rain showing up when she wanted … madness! I didn’t start very well, but then caught up with Luthi who had escaped. When I passed him, I tried to push harder to escape. I waited for better weather and when the rain stopped I was able to widen the gap".

Thomas Luthi (2nd) : "It was a strange race … I was aggressive at the start, I hit Simoncelli and I’m sorry. I had a good pace, Alvaro was fast too and I tried to widen the gap, but I was a bit lost, not knowing how fast I could go. Alvaro passed me and I just had to secure my second place. But it’s an important podium for me".

Marco Simoncelli (3rd) : "The day has been difficult! Thomas hit me in the first corner and I lost a lot of time and places. Barbera passed me between the third and fourth corners and then I lost more places, but I finally found a good rhythm and I was able to get back to the riders in front of me. The rain complicated things, it was difficult to know where the limits were … I pushed hard to go in front, it’s a very good result !"

Race classification 250 – Assen
1- A. BAUTISTA 6- H. AOYAMA 11- H. FAUBEL
2- T. LUTHI 7- Mr. KALLIO 12- R. WILAIROT
3- M. SIMONCELLI 8- Y. TAKAHASHI 13- F. LAI
4- A. DEBON 9- R. LOCATELLI 14- A. BALDOLINI
5- H. BARBERA 10- J. SIMON 15- L. PESEK

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR and F. KIRN

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