MotoGP 2003 - Round 7 - Assen - Preview

The Ducati Marlboro Team comes to Assen fresh from its historic first MotoGP victory, but with its focus still very much on the future. Despite Loris Capirossi’s glorious win at scorching-hot Catalunya a fortnight back the Italian squad still considers its first premier-class GP season in three decades as a development campaign, with the onus on improving the awesome Desmosedici at every outing.

This weekend will be a real challenge for the Bologna-based crew, since Assen is a unique circuit, known to race fans around the world as ‘the cathedral’. And the Dutch venue isn’t only unique for its sinuous, high-speed layout, it’s also the only round of the MotoGP World Championship that’s not a Grand Prix. Assen uses the suffix TT for Tourist Trophy, the designation used for the earliest racing events of the last century. Assen is also the only survivor from motorcycling’s inaugural 1949 World Championship.

The MotoGP circus stays in northern Europe for the next GP in Britain on July 13th, half-distance in the 16-round 2003 World Championship. The season concludes at Valencia, Spain, on November 2.

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss both know and love the Assen circuit, which requires a very special riding style, slightly different from that required at other MotoGP tracks. The Italian and Australian can also count on expert back-up from their engineers, who have plenty of Assen knowledge from their World Superbike days.

“Obviously we’re all very happy and confident after Catalunya, and yet we know that this is still a development season for us,” says Ducati Marlboro Team director Livio Suppo. “Our Catalunya win doesn’t really change anything, but it does mean we arrive at Assen in good spirits. Both our riders love this racetrack, but I think we can expect a challenging weekend because Assen is a very complex circuit. Wherever we go, all our efforts are focused on making the bike better. Racing is all about trying to win, that’s what everyone is always trying to do – it’s about know-how and hard work.”

Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli shares Suppo’s attitude to his team’s recent success. “The win changes nothing – it just makes us happier technicians,” he grins. “But we do go to Assen feeling confident. And in some ways it won’t be as tough as Catalunya, because conditions should be much cooler. Assen is a strange track – from our World Superbike experience we know that it’s all about the sequences of high-speed esses, there’s no such thing as a proper straight at Assen. The challenge is to provide a machine that has both easy handling and stability. It’s always easy to have one of the two, but it’s very difficult to find a good compromise between both these characteristics. Anyway, we try not to change our usual settings too much. This is always our aim, because this allows the rider to stay familiar with his machine’s character. Assen is also very grippy – it seems like it has more grip in the rain than some tracks do in the dry.”

Loris Capirossi has already proved he can win with the Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici, and now he comes to one of his favourite racetracks. The Italian has won two races at Assen (the 1993 and ’99 250 TTs) and has scored two premier-GP class podiums at the Dutch venue (taking third in 2000 and 2001).

“For sure, Assen is one of the best tracks in the world,” says Capirossi. “But not as good as it was two years ago – I don’t like the new part behind the paddock so much. But the track should work well for the Ducati, at the moment our bike prefers the faster tracks, partly because we have a lot of horsepower, and also because the bike likes fast corners. Assen is incredibly quick, so you need plenty of power, plus a quick-steering but stable bike for all the high-speed direction changes. I think it will be very hard work there, because the four-strokes are so fast. I feel great after Catalunya, but there’s still a long season ahead of us with many good riders to beat. We are still working hard, the bike is still new, we must keep improving it.”

Michelin has been particularly impressed with Capirossi’s mode of bike set-up and tyre choice at the last two races – remarkably the Desmosedici can run softer tyres than many rival machines, despite its massive horsepower output.

Assen is the first track of the 2003 MotoGP season that Troy Bayliss can say that he really knows. The Aussie had never raced at any of the five venues visited so far this year, but he’s contested three Assen World Superbike rounds, with mixed memories. Two years ago he secured the World Superbike crown with two wins at the track, but last year he crashed out, losing the title to arch-rival Colin Edwards (Honda).

“This weekend won’t be like going back there on a Superbike – because MotoGP is a totally different kettle of fish,” says the Australian. “But at least I know my way round, which is handy. I don’t like the new section, though maybe that’s because I had a terrible time at Assen last year, while I won the world championship on the old section. I’m not too keen on the new part behind the paddock because by then you’ve already had enough of all the twists and turns! It’s a very flowing type of track – you’ve got to get in a big groove if you want to get a good result. And you need everything right with the bike to ride it right, which is the same everywhere, but more so at Assen. If you can get yourself into a flowing mood, it just happens. Once you’re in synch, it’s a really nice track.”

Although Assen is now a modern purpose-built racetrack, some parts of the circuit still follow the layout of the old Circuit Van Drenthe street circuit, which explains both Assen’s singular layout and its unusually profiled surface. The track is also the fastest on the current GP calendar.

Unlike most purpose-built tracks, which feature wide straights and mostly slow to medium-fast corners, Assen is a narrow, meandering circuit, dominated by high-speed corners and rapid direction changes. Its surface is also special, because it is crowned like a public road for improved drainage, whereas other racetracks are flat. The crown poses a particular challenge to riders, who must cope with four changes of camber as they enter and exit each corner. As they head towards the apex they enjoy positive camber and that continues as they start to accelerate, but as they drift wide on the exit they cross the crown in the centre of the track, and suddenly they must contend with negative camber and an immediate loss of traction. Engineers run stiffer-than-usual suspension settings to cope with the cornering forces, so the bike doesn’t ‘unload’ violently as it cross the centre crown.

The layout underwent a major change in 1984, adapted from the original Circuit Van Drenthe constructed in the fifties, and was changed again last year. Assen’s first 500 TT was run on another nearby street loop on July 1949.

Assen: 6.027km/3.745 miles
Lap record: Valentino Rossi (Honda), 2m 00.973s, 179.356kmh/111.447mph (2002)
Pole position 2002: Rossi, 2m 01.691s