Red Bull KTMs filled 6th and 9th positions in front of a busy TT Circuit Assen today for the tenth Sprint of the season. Maverick Viñales and Pedro Acosta pocketed Saturday points under grey skies in The Netherlands and after a close Sprint in which the top six were split by less than six seconds. The 75th Dutch TT Grand Prix was part of centennial celebrations for the TT Circuit Assen, a venue steeped in motorcycle racing history but also host to the tenth round of 2025 MotoGP and the second event in a week for the paddock. The time-honored, flat and varied mix of corners in the northern Drenth region faced a cloudy and cool climate on Friday and was then warmer but breezy on Saturday.
Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Maverick Viñales has a rewarding connection with the track, having won in the Netherlands in 2019 and taken nine podium finishes at the site. The Spaniard was quick on Friday as was Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pedro Acosta as the brandmates both slotted into the top ten and through to Q2. Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini posted times to place 6th and 7th in Q1 and therefore accepted 16th and 17th positions on the grid. Less than one second split the 12 runners in Q2 and Acosta and Viñales were 0.7 and 0.8 of a second away from Pole, meaning 9th and 10th respectively for the 13-lap Sprint and the Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Sprint was a static affair. Maverick pushed into the group circulating in sight of the top three and Pedro was also in touch but P7 became P9 and the last Sprint point after he could not complete a Long Lap penalty on the final circulation. Maverick locked 6th place for this third consecutive Saturday score. Brad made an excellent start to work his way inside the top ten while Bastianini was 13th and will have a three-place grid demotion due to slow riding earlier in the day.
Race time is 14.00 CEST and will involve 26-laps.
Maverick Viñales, 10th in qualification, 6th in the Sprint: “Mixed emotions. A difficult feeling in Quali, and I could not ride the bike in the best way but I was quite happy with the Sprint result. We have really good data for tomorrow. We have to pick the correct tires because the medium dropped quite a lot. We’ll see.”
Pedro Acosta, 9th in qualification, 9th in the Sprint: “The race was not too bad and the pace also until the last few laps. It’s true that we’re not in our sweet moment. We weren’t too bad in qualifying but still a bit far. We need to keep working, keep going and try to match the start of the others and the first corners. That’s what we’re missing.”
Brad Binder, 16th in qualification, 10th in the Sprint: “It’s been clear that all weekend I’ve been struggling. We’ve been playing with the set-up and I now need to work out the right feeling. Pedro and Maverick are doing a much better job so I left the bike alone today and chipped away at going faster. My goal was to work on my riding, and I didn’t manage to find much more speed but at least I was a bit consistent and got up to 10th. Hopefully more tomorrow and we can be further forward.”
Enea Bastianini, 17th in qualification, 13th in the Sprint: “A different day. We tried something to be much faster and we checked the data after the Sprint: my riding is good but on the fast corners I lose speed. I’m losing too much and it’s hard to recover the gap. We have to understand if it is something from the aero because it is difficult to figure out. Let’s see if we can understand it tomorrow morning. I’m a bit angry about the penalty because in my opinion I was off the line.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Friday was quite positive, and we had good expectations but quali did not quite go as expected. To have two riders in Q2 is decent but we’re not looking to start around 10th position. In any case, Pedro did a solid race. He was mainly struggling with the front tire but he finished in P7 before the penalty. We believe tomorrow in the longer race – as in the last GPs – we will have a better chance to recover positions. It’s been a tough weekend for Brad and we changed the target for today. He did a long run in the morning looking for some consistency and some confidence. The race was effective and should set him up for better tomorrow. We’ve changed the working style for him and we’ll see if it can pay off. Maverick continued his decent level. The quali didn’t go to plan but we’ve been working a lot on the turning of the bike. In some conditions or on certain tracks its disturbing us a bit more. In longer races and with harder tires we are always a bit closer to our main competitors and to show more our potential. I feel we have made steps but the Quali with the new tires is something that we are trying to improve. It’s an important part of the bike development. Maverick was happier in the race than in the Quali and tomorrow should see more of the same. Enea has made a step forward and I see positive progress in understanding the bike more. I think we will see him fighting more and more for the top ten positions, but, he still needs that better qualifying lap to be higher on the grid and to make the whole process easier.”
