This weekend, the third round of the FIM Supersport World Championship will be held at the TT Circuit Assen. It is always a special weekend for Ten Kate Racing with the presence of many sponsors and guests. In addition, the coming weekend will also be marked by the presentation of the second phase of the Motonext project.

With the TT Circuit Assen just 40 minutes away from the Ten Kate headquarters in Nieuwleusen, the Dutch round of the World Superbike championship is always a special one for Ten Kate Racing. After the season started two months ago with consecutive race weekends in Australia and Indonesia, a busy phase of the championship now begins with races on European soil.

After those first two rounds of the championship, Stefano Manzi is second in the championship with a total of 59 points. The Italian has already been on the podium twice and has shown that he is among the fastest riders in the World Supersport class. Jorge Navarro was still recovering from his serious injuries sustained at the end of 2022 and is eighth in the championship. Nevertheless, the Spaniard showed that the potential is there and after this long break he will be much fitter in Assen compared to the first two rounds.

Stefano Manzi: “After a long time it’s finally time to race again. Luckily we were able to test in the middle of this long wait and I’m happy how it went. I have trained well so I’m confident about what we can do this weekend. We have already showed our potential so now we have to focus to maximise it during the races. It’s the team’s home race so there will be a lot of people coming, but we will do our best on the track and see what happens.”

Jorge Navarro: “Finally it’s race week again after some weeks off. For me these weeks were necessary to keep working on my recovery and train properly, therefore I think I arrive in a much better shape compared to the first two rounds. We were also able to do a test in Assen so we already have an idea about the bike for this weekend. I feel good coming into this weekend and it will be my first European round in World Supersport. Assen is a very special track and it has always been one of the beest in the world. It’s the home race for the team so I’m sure we will have a great weekend.”

Kervin Bos – Ten Kate Racing team manager: “It will be an exciting weekend in Assen and I am very much looking forward to it. It’s always a special weekend for everyone at Ten Kate. We do something special in Assen every year and so will we this year: we will proudly present the second phase of the Motonext project on Friday evening with a world’s first, in collaboration with oil partner Putoline. There will also be big news from our other project partner SBS.

Therefore we will ride with a special livery, dedicated to the Motonext project and making motorsport more sustainable, on Saturday and Sunday. Besides all these projects, this weekend we will also have a huge hospitality where we will receive many guests and sponsors: it will be a weekend everyone is looking forward to.

The preparation in recent weeks has been optimal, the team is in excellent shape. We were able to test for two days in Assen where lap times were fast and consistent, so in that respect the team is all set. The weather forecasts look good so we are extremely excited to go racing in Assen.”

The race weekend at the TT Circuit Assen starts on Friday with two free practice sessions followed by the Superpole session on Saturday morning at 10:25 am. Race 1 will start at 15:15 on Saturday afternoon, with Race 2 on Sunday afternoon at 12:30.

The Motonext presentation can also be followed this Friday evening via a livestream. Details of this will follow at a later date.