“I just love this track, it has a wonderful flow,” MotoGP World Champion Francesco Bagnaia said on Friday about his love for the TT Circuit in Assen – which he even has a tattoo on his right upper arm – and in doing so he probably spoke for many of his fellow racing drivers. The cult track in the Netherlands, with its unique ‘old school’ characteristics, is without a doubt one of the most popular courses on the current MotoGP calendar. However, numerous drivers have had to learn the hard way over the past two days that the race track also has less pleasant sides.
The focus is on ‘Ruskenhoek’, the fast left-hand bend T7 right at the start of the second section of the track. A bend that the MotoGP riders reach at speeds of well over 250 km/h. But not only that, they also have to brake while leaning and coming out of the equally fast right-hand bend T6 ‘Veenslang’. A combination that even the best motorcycle racers in the world face a small test of courage every single time. If something goes wrong, it usually ends badly.
Eight crashes and three injuries in turn 7 of the TT Circuit Assen
What happened so far on the 2024 MotoGP weekend in Assen is a bit out of the ordinary, however. With Filip Salac and Joe Roberts on Friday, and Filippo Farioli, Riccardo Rossi, Xavi Cardelus, Marco Bezzecchi, Raul Fernandez and Marc Marquez on Saturday, eight riders across all three classes were affected in ‘Ruskenhoek’, with almost half of these crashes ending in serious injuries.
Salac, for example, will have to miss the rest of the weekend with a skull and neck injury, Cardelus is forced to sit out the race with a broken foot, and Moto2 World Championship contender Roberts will probably not be able to return to action until after the summer break at the earliest with a fracture of his right collarbone. Rossi also had to go to the medical center for a check-up after his crash in the second Moto3 practice session, but was able to take part in qualifying shortly afterwards. However, the Italian seemed just as shaken up after his high-speed crash as Fernandez and Bezzecchi, for example, after their crashes in the second MotoGP free practice session.
“I was very lucky that I was able to continue,” said the Trackhouse Racing driver on Saturday evening in his media round. Like his colleagues in the smaller classes, he too had lost the front in ‘Ruskenhoek’ and then slid into the gravel bed at high speed, where he was then shaken up and received a heavy blow to the head as he passed a narrow strip of asphalt that leads through the gravel bed of Turn 7 to the race track at this point.
MotoGP riders agree: the asphalt strip must go!
It is precisely this access road, which has been there for many years, that is now the focus of criticism. “I spoke to Loris [Capirossi, Sicherheitsbeauftragter der Dorna, Anm.] talked about it. That’s something they should change for the future, because it’s not a safe place,” says Raul Fernandez. The young Spaniard is clear: “I was lucky that I’m safe. If I had used a different helmet and hit the asphalt just as hard, I might not be here now, but in the hospital.”
Fernandez gets support from one of his five rookie colleagues from the 2022 MotoGP season: Marco Bezzecchi. “I crashed before, so luckily I didn’t hit the asphalt,” he says. “But I’ve noticed it, especially in one or two Moto2 and Moto3 crashes. I don’t know if they need this strip for vehicles, but for us it would undoubtedly be better if there was gravel everywhere.”