Less than two weeks since the second Superbike World Championship round in Portugal, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team is ready to take on the TT Circuit Assen in The Netherlands, the stage for the 2025 season’s third round.

The recent Portimão round saw riders Tarran Mackenzie and Zaqhwan Zaidi come away with a number of positives on which to build this coming weekend. The British rider scored his first points of the season in Race 1 but was denied the opportunity to do that in Race 2 after he crashed. The Malaysian rookie, on the other hand, continued to make progress and gradually close the gap to those immediately ahead. He was able to complete Race 2 with an encouraging sixteenth-place finish.

At last year’s Assen round, PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda rider Tarran scored points in both races and just missed out on a top ten finish in race 2 by a tenth of a second. Rookie Zaqhwan, who is in his first world championship season, does not know the Assen track at all, and so will need to work effectively already on Friday to get up to speed, metaphorically and literally speaking.

One of the oldest circuits on the WorldSBK calendar, the TT Circuit Assen has staged motorcycle races since the 1950s. Often referred to as the ‘cathedral of speed’, this prestigious and historic track is always popular with the fans. Located in the Drenthe province of The Netherlands, the track currently measures 4.542 km and features eighteen turns (twelve right and six left).

Tarran Mackenzie #95

“I’m really looking forward to Assen. I had one of my better rounds there last year and have experience of the track with both Superbike and BSB. I’m keen to arrive and sit down with the team to make a plan ready for the weekend. Sometimes you can’t tell what the weather will do, it’s very much like the UK in that respect, but the way we ended the Portimão round, finding a bit of a better direction, can only be a good thing for us at Assen. We’ll work hard to keep closing the gap, and it would be nice to score some points again!”

Zaqhwan Zaidi #21

“I’ve never been to Assen so another new circuit to explore and learn as quickly as I can. I feel we made good progress at Portimão with respect to the first round in Australia and so I hope we can continue in that direction and improve step by step also during this third round. I’m really looking forward to it!”

Track Information

Country: The Netherlands
Name: TT Circuit Assen
Length: 4.542 km
Pole position: left
Turns: 6 left, 12 right
Race distance: 21 laps/95.382 km

LAP RECORDS: Best lap – Bautista (Ducati) 1’33.620 (2022). Superpole – Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 1’32.934 (2022).

2024 RESULTS: 

Race 1 – 1. Spinelli (Ducati); 2. Razgatlioglu (BMW); 3. Bautista (Ducati)

Superpole race – 1. Bautista (Ducati); 2. Bulega (Ducati); 3. Lowes (Kawasaki)

Race 2 – 1.Razgatlioglu (BMW); 2. Bautista (Ducati); 3. Gardner (Yamaha)

Weekend schedule (CET):

Friday
10.20 – 11.05 – SBK Free Practice 1
15.00 – 15.45 – SBK Free Practice 2

Saturday
9.00 – 9.20 – SBK Free Practice 3
11.00 – 11.15 – Superpole
14.00 – SBK Race 1

Sunday
9.00 – 9.10 – SBK Warm-up
11.00 – Superpole race
14.00 – SBK Race 2