2011 Dutch TT

The 2011 Dutch TT was the seventh round of the 2011 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 23–25 June 2011 at the TT Circuit Assen.

  2011 Dutch Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 17 races in the 2011 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	25 June 2011
Official name	Iveco TT Assen
Location	TT Circuit Assen
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.542 km (2.822 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position Rider Marco Simoncelli Time 1:34.718 Fastest lap Rider Ben Spies Time 1:35.240 Podium First Ben Spies Second Casey Stoner Third Andrea Dovizioso
Moto2
Pole position Rider Stefan Bradl Time 1:39.305 Fastest lap Rider Pol Espargaró Time 1:47.615 Podium First Marc Márquez Second Kenan Sofuoğlu Third Bradley Smith
125 cc
Pole position Rider Maverick Viñales Time 1:44.597 Fastest lap Rider Maverick Viñales Time 1:44.928 Podium First Maverick Viñales Second Luis Salom Third Sergio Gadea

MotoGP race report

This race was most notable for Marco Simoncelli taking out Jorge Lorenzo on the opening lap, as well as Ben Spies' first and only victory in the premier class.

Casey Stoner has a small lead over second place contender Jorge Lorenzo, the Australian having 116 and the Spaniard 98 points in the world championship title after six rounds. A bit further behind is Andrea Dovizioso in third with 83 points.

The man who grabbed pole on Saturday is Marco Simoncelli - his second and final pole position before his tragic death later that year in Malaysia - with a time of 1'34.718. American Ben Spies lines up in second place, being + 0.009 seconds slower than the Italian and world championship leader Casey Stoner in third, +0.281 seconds behind. The second row of the grid consists out of Jorge Lorenzo in fourth, Andrea Dovizioso in fifth and Cal Crutchlow in sixth. Loris Capirossi did not participare due to an injury and Dani Pedrosa was also not present due to his fractured right collarbone.

With the conditions being uncertain before the riders even took off to do their warm-up lap, confusion reigned. The race had originally been declared a wet-weather race, but as the track started to dry up more and more minutes before the start, it was declared a dry race and riders were allowed to change their tyres. During the sighting lap, Spies chose to change tyres right before the pit lane closed, putting on slicks when leader Simoncelli had full wet tyres on instead. Multiple other riders have decided to do the same, some being Crutchlow, Stoner, Lorenzo and Dovizioso, with Simoncelli eventually also opting to change.

Eventually, all the riders take off and do their warm-up lap before lining up in their respective grid slots. As the lights go out, Simoncelli has a good start but Spies has a better one, going side-by-side heading to the Haarbocht (Turn 1) on the opening lap. However, it is Lorenzo who pips both as they go into the right-handed, losing acceleration as he puts his wheel on the still web kerb, allowing Spies to pass him and take over the lead from both at Madijk (Turn 2). Stoner behind them has dropped back to seventh after a poor start, with both Crutchlow, Colin Edwards and Dovizioso passing him for fourth, fifth and sixth place. At Madijk and Ossebroeken (Turn 3), Dovizioso passes both Edwards and Crutchlow, promoting him up to fourth position. At the narrow Strubben hairpin (Turn 5), Simoncelli has a huge moment trying to take Lorenzo's second place and highsides out of the race, taking down Lorenzo with him, promoting Dovizioso up into second and Stoner - who had passed Edwards by going down his inside at Strubben for sixth and fifth at the Veenslang, into third. This has allowed Spies to build up a small gap over the Repsol Honda duo of Dovizioso and Stoner. Further back, Valentino Rossi - who is now sixth thanks to the collision between Simoncelli and Lorenzo - is fighting for track position with Factory Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden at the Ruskenhoek (Turn 7). Both eventually manage to get their bikes restarted but are now very far behind the pack, who has almost completed the first lap by now.

On lap two, Spies has opened up a significant gap back to Dovizioso, who is now being harassed by his teammate Stoner. Further back, Rossi has managed to overtake Edwards for fifth. Stoner passes Dovizioso for second by diving down his inside at the Ossebroeken as Karel Abraham has gone down, sliding out at the entrance of the Geert Timmer Bocht (Turn 17), the Czech rider holding his arm in pain as a result. Randy de Puniet has also gone down, the Frenchman walking away unhurt and crossing the track calmly to the pits. By now, the field has stabilised.

Lap three and Spies sets the fastest lap of the race. The top six now is as follows: Spies, Stoner, Dovizioso, Crutchlow, Rossi and Hayden, who passed Edwards before the start/finish straight. The gap Spies has to Stoner is +4.048 seconds in sector two, which increases to +4.124 in sector three and +4.197 seconds at the start/finish straight.

On lap four, Dovizioso is all over the back of Stoner, shadowing him for the time being. The gap Spies has to Stoner is now +4.212 seconds at sector two, then increases to +4.287 seconds in the final sector.

Lap five and the front is still very much stable, although the Factory Ducati duo of Rossi and Hayden are being shadowed by the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha pair of Crutchlow and Edwards now. At the back, replacement rider Kousuke Akiyoshi has overtaken Héctor Barberá for eleventh place, with the Spaniard retaking the place almost immediately after.

On lap six, Stoner now sets the fastest lap of the race. Dovizioso has now backed off, probably not being able to match Stoner's pace. By now, Lorenzo has reached the backmarkers Akiyoshi and Barberá and is battling for twelfth and eleventh place. Lorenzo easily takes thirteenth away from Akiyoshi by taking a tighter line at the Ossebroeken, then easily takes twelfth from Barberá by diving down his inside at the Strubben hairpin.

On lap seven, it is now Dovizioso who sets the fastest lap. The gap Spies has to Stoner is +3.845 seconds at the end of last lap, then it decreases to +3.830 seconds in sector one, then decreases again in sector two to just +3.747 seconds, then it decreases again to +3.651 seconds in sector three before increasing again to +3.881 seconds at the start/finish straight.

Lap eight has started and the gap Spies has to Stoner decreases in sector one to +3.662 seconds, then it decreases slightly to +6.625 seconds in sector two.

On lap nine, Stoner sets the fastest lap of the race. The gap Spies has to Stoner is still going down - it now being +3.515 seconds on the last lap. The gap decreases quite heavily in sector one to +3.234 seconds before increasing again slightly to +3.373 seconds in sector two. In sector three, the gap increases again to +3.463 seconds before increasing once more at the start/finish straight to +3.572 seconds.

Lap ten and the top six is as follows: Spies, Stoner, Dovizioso, Rossi, Crutchlow and Edwards. The gap Spies had to Stoner - which was +3.572 seconds -, has decreased to +3.406 seconds in sector one before decreasing again to +3.558 seconds in sector two. The gap decreases again very slightly in sector three to +3.555 as Spies has a slight moment exiting the Ramshoek (Turn 15). Further back, Lorenzo has caught and passed Álvaro Bautista at the straight before the entrance of De Bult (Turn 9) for tenth.

On lap eleven, the front is still stable. The gap Spies has to Stoner is +3.561 in sector two, decreasing again in sector three to +3.485 seconds and increasing slightly at the start/finish straight to +3.496 seconds.

Lap twelve and Stoner sets another fastest lap. Crutchlow enters the pits after riding a strong fourth position to retire from the race due to mechanical issues. The gap Spies has to Stoner meanwhile has decreased again to +3.307 seconds in sector one, increasing to +3.547 in sector two.

On lap thirteen - the halfway point of the race -, the front is still stable. The gap Spies has to Stoner is now +3.667 seconds in sector one, decreasing to +3.619 seconds in sector two, increasing again in sector three to +3.851 seconds. Meanwhile at the back, Lorenzo has caught and passed Toni Elías for eighth place (all riders moving up one place due to Crutchlow's retirement) by passing him at the inside of Strubben. At the start/finish straight, the gap has increased once more to +3.953 seconds.

Lap fourteen and Spies' gap to Stoner is decreasing slightly to +3.925 seconds. Lorenzo meanwhile is rapidly gaining on seventh place replacement rider Hiroshi Aoyama - the gap diminishing from 2.382 seconds at the start/finish straight to +2.128 seconds in sector one and +1.714 seconds in sector two and +1.040 seconds in sector three. Crutchlow meanwhile has decided to participate in the race again, continuing in last place. Meanwhile at the front, Spies' gap to Stoner decreases again to +3.829 seconds in sector one. Lorenzo's gap at the beginning of this lap (he is very far back to the leaders) is now only +0.521 seconds back to Aoyama's Repsol Honda as Spies' gap to Stoner increases again to +4.017 seconds in sector two. In sector three, the gap increases again very slightly to +4.018 seconds, the gap decreasing at the start/finish straight to +4.013 seconds. Lorenzo at the back has now caught Aoyama and stalks him for a couple of corners, passing him by diving down his inside at De Bult to take seventh.

On lap fifteen, the gap Spies has to Stoner decreases again to +3.969 seconds in sector one. Simoncelli further back has passed Barberá at the lap before by going up his inside at the entrance of the Geert Timmer Bocht and is now up into eleventh place.

Lap sixteen and the gap Spies has to Stoner is now +4.101 seconds in sector one. It increases to +4.400 seconds in sector two as backmarker Akiyoshi moves out of the way for Spies to get lapped, then increases again in sector three to +4.465 seconds and eventually becoming +4.579 seconds at the start/finish straight, another increase.

On lap seventeen, Spies' gap to Stoner increases again to +4.703 seconds in sector one before increasing again to +4.823 seconds in sector two. In sector three, the gap decreases to +4.657 seconds and at the start/finish line, the gap is +4.716, another increase.

Lap eighteen and the front is still stable. Spies' gap to Stoner is now over five seconds - +5.103 seconds in sector two to be precise. The American rider is now coming up to Barberá to lap him as the gap increases to +5.273 seconds in sector three and +5.272 seconds at the start/finish straight, a slight decrease.

On lap nineteen, Hayden has passed Edwards for fifth place. The gap Spies has to Stoner is now +5.493 seconds in sector one, an increase. In sector two, the gap increases again to +5.635 seconds, decreasing in sector three to +5.563 seconds. At the start/finish straight, the gap is +5.522 seconds, another decrease.

Lap twenty and no overtakes happened.

On lap twenty-one, the gap Spies has to Stoner was +5.592 seconds on the last lap. The front is still very much stable.

Lap twenty-two and Lorenzo has caught and passed Edwards, promoting him to sixth place as he easily goes down his inside at the Stekkenwal.

On lap twenty-three, Spies' gap to Stoner is now over six seconds, namely +6.108 seconds in sector one. This gap increases to +6.365 seconds in sector two as Lorenzo is now also quickly catching Hayden for fifth position, his gap diminishing from +8.133 seconds in sector one to +7.746 seconds in sector two.

Lap twenty-four and the gap Hayden has to Lorenzo continues to get smaller, from +7.746 seconds in sector two to +7.115 seconds in sector three and +6.630 seconds at the start/finish straight. The gap continues to diminish, it now being +6.108 seconds in sector one. Simoncelli has also caught and passed Bautista for tenth.

On lap twenty-five, the penultimate lap, Hayden's gap to Lorenzo is still diminishing. It now being +5.945 seconds in sector two and +5.506 in sector three. At the start/finish straight, the gap is +5.267 seconds, another decrease. At sector one, the gap decreases once more to under five seconds - +4.815 seconds to be precise, with yet another decrease at sector two to +4.555 seconds.

The final lap - lap twenty-six - has begun and Spies is still comfortably leading, followed by the Repsol Honda pair of Stoner and Dovizioso. Further back is Rossi and Hayden, with Lorenzo in sixth still hunting down Hayden. In sector three, the gap Hayden has to Lorenzo has decreased to +4.084 seconds. Spies rides a trouble-free last lap to cross the line and win the race - his first ever win in the MotoGP class - as the spectators applaud for him. Stoner pops a wheelie as he crosses the line second, with a bit further back Dovizioso coming home third. Rossi is not too far back to finish fourth, Hayden - almost being caught by Lorenzo - comes home fifth and Lorenzo in sixth place. As Lorenzo crosses the lone, he shakes his head in anger during the parade lap back to parc fermé. Simoncelli finishes ninth as he also managed to take Elías on the final lap.

During the parade lap, both Stoner and Rossi congratulate him while still on their respective bikes. Spies waves at the crowd as fellow American Hayden comes and congratulates him also, shaking his hand in the process. Lorenzo congratulates him as well, giving him a thumbs up. Stoner then does another wheelie and waves at the crowd, Dovizioso doing likewise. As Spies rides back to the pits, he waves at the crowd in jubilant fashion.

Stoner has already arrived at parc fermé, talking to his wife Adriana Tuchyna. Spies is still on his way as the Ducati crew congratulates Rossi for his excellent fourth place position on the Ducati, his brother hugging him also. Spies has now finally arrived at parc fermé, some Yamaha crewmembers congratulating a shocked and happy Spies as he steps off his bike. Simoncelli goes to his pit box as his crewmembers check his damaged bike as Spies hugs one of his own crewmen as he happily talks to them, then takes off his helmet and walks to his mother and the Yamaha Factory Racing boss to get a kiss and a handshake, being stopped to shake hands with Stoner beforehand also. Another Yamaha crewmember and his trainer both give him a hug before walking off. A happy Spies briefly poses for the camera's as the rest is still talking to the press at parc fermé, then walks off. Back at the Repsol Honda pit box, replacement rider Aoyama holds up a sign in front of the camera with the text "Dani, come back soon. Animo !!" to wish Pedrosa a speedy recovery (he would eventually come back in the race, the Italian round).

The trio goes up to the podium and Dovizioso is the first one to step on it, followed by Stoner and a delighted Spies who calmly steps on it. Arjan Bos, then TT-Assen President of the Board hands out the constructors trophy to the chief crewmember of the Factory Yamaha team, then the third place trophy to Dovizioso. Alfredo Altavilla - then CEO of Iveco - hands out the second place trophy to Stoner and Jacques Tichelaar - then the Queen's Commissioner - handed the winners' trophy to Spies, who calmly accepts it and presents it. The American national anthem plays for Spies and as it stops, the trio get the champagne handed, which they then start to spray on each other before Spies storms off the podium to spray his chief crewmember. Spies takes a sip of it as he walks back to the podium and celebrates with Stoner once more with the champagne bottles, taking another sip as well.

Spies' win does not cause any big shakeups in the world championship title, Simoncelli knocking out Lorenzo early on and Stoner finishing second does. Stoner now increases his championship lead as he has 136 points, 28 more than Lorenzo who is second with 108 points. Dovizioso is still third with 99 points. New in the top five is Hayden, who moves up into fifth place in the standings with 71 points thanks to Pedrosa's absence.

MotoGP classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Ben Spies	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	26	41:44.659	2	25
2	27	Casey Stoner	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	26	+7.697	3	20
3	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	26	+27.506	5	16
4	46	Valentino Rossi	Ducati Team	Ducati	26	+30.684	11	13
5	69	Nicky Hayden	Ducati Team	Ducati	26	+43.172	9	11
6	1	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	26	+44.536	4	10
7	5	Colin Edwards	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	26	+1:08.112	8	9
8	7	Hiroshi Aoyama	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	26	+1:10.753	12	8
9	58	Marco Simoncelli	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	26	+1:24.925	1	7
10	24	Toni Elías	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	26	+1:26.216	15	6
11	19	Álvaro Bautista	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	26	+1:38.466	14	5
12	8	Héctor Barberá	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	25	+1 lap	13	4
13	64	Kousuke Akiyoshi	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	25	+1 lap	16	3
14	35	Cal Crutchlow	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	24	+2 laps	6	2
Ret	14	Randy de Puniet	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	1	Accident	10
Ret	17	Karel Abraham	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati	0	Accident	7
DNS	65	Loris Capirossi	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati		Injury
Sources:

Moto2 classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	93	Marc Márquez	Suter	24	44:30.409	2	25
2	54	Kenan Sofuoğlu	Suter	24	+2.397	7	20
3	38	Bradley Smith	Tech 3	24	+6.418	10	16
4	13	Anthony West	MZ-RE Honda	24	+22.803	20	13
5	15	Alex de Angelis	Motobi	24	+25.882	22	11
6	75	Mattia Pasini	FTR	24	+26.851	18	10
7	34	Esteve Rabat	FTR	24	+28.125	19	9
8	12	Thomas Lüthi	Suter	24	+28.712	4	8
9	4	Randy Krummenacher	Kalex	24	+29.744	17	7
10	76	Max Neukirchner	MZ-RE Honda	24	+39.767	39	6
11	25	Alex Baldolini	Suter	24	+47.158	28	5
12	29	Andrea Iannone	Suter	24	+50.846	25	4
13	68	Yonny Hernández	FTR	24	+57.118	21	3
14	3	Simone Corsi	FTR	24	+1:00.775	3	2
15	71	Claudio Corti	Suter	24	+1:06.310	15	1
16	40	Aleix Espargaró	Pons Kalex	24	+1:06.764	6
17	51	Michele Pirro	Moriwaki	24	+1:06.823	9
18	77	Dominique Aegerter	Suter	24	+1:16.296	13
19	88	Ricard Cardús	Moriwaki	24	+1:21.524	31
20	31	Carmelo Morales	Moriwaki	24	+1:22.289	32
21	49	Kev Coghlan	FTR	24	+1:38.161	30
22	66	Michael van der Mark	Ten Kate	24	+1:41.888	33
23	21	Javier Forés	Suter	24	+1:42.189	24
24	45	Scott Redding	Suter	23	+1 lap	8
25	95	Mashel Al Naimi	Moriwaki	23	+1 lap	38
26	39	Robertino Pietri	Suter	23	+1 lap	36
Ret	65	Stefan Bradl	Kalex	20	Accident	1
Ret	97	Steven Odendaal	Suter	20	Accident	37
Ret	72	Yuki Takahashi	Moriwaki	19	Accident	5
Ret	44	Pol Espargaró	FTR	19	Accident	11
Ret	9	Kenny Noyes	FTR	19	Accident	26
Ret	19	Xavier Siméon	Tech 3	18	Accident	14
Ret	36	Mika Kallio	Suter	13	Retirement	16
Ret	80	Axel Pons	Pons Kalex	7	Accident	34
Ret	14	Ratthapark Wilairot	FTR	5	Accident	27
Ret	53	Valentin Debise	FTR	5	Accident	35
Ret	64	Santiago Hernández	FTR	3	Accident	29
Ret	63	Mike Di Meglio	Tech 3	2	Accident	12
Ret	16	Jules Cluzel	Suter	2	Accident	23
DNQ	82	Elena Rosell	Suter		Did not qualify
OFFICIAL MOTO2 REPORT

125 cc classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	25	Maverick Viñales	Aprilia	14	25:04.147	1	25
2	39	Luis Salom	Aprilia	14	+2.555	5	20
3	33	Sergio Gadea	Aprilia	14	+2.655	8	16
4	11	Sandro Cortese	Aprilia	14	+3.670	3	13
5	5	Johann Zarco	Derbi	14	+3.903	2	11
6	52	Danny Kent	Aprilia	14	+4.469	9	10
7	7	Efrén Vázquez	Derbi	14	+8.828	6	9
8	94	Jonas Folger	Aprilia	14	+10.416	7	8
9	77	Marcel Schrötter	Mahindra	14	+10.791	13	7
10	55	Héctor Faubel	Aprilia	14	+13.238	4	6
11	10	Alexis Masbou	KTM	14	+15.255	15	5
12	15	Simone Grotzkyj	Aprilia	14	+16.061	11	4
13	99	Danny Webb	Mahindra	14	+25.420	10	3
14	63	Zulfahmi Khairuddin	Derbi	14	+26.954	35	2
15	23	Alberto Moncayo	Aprilia	14	+27.578	19	1
16	84	Jakub Kornfeil	Aprilia	14	+27.886	17
17	3	Luigi Morciano	Aprilia	14	+29.450	14
18	41	Luca Grünwald	KTM	14	+32.367	21
19	30	Giulian Pedone	Aprilia	14	+33.472	12
20	56	Péter Sebestyén	KTM	14	+39.819	26
21	28	Josep Rodríguez	Aprilia	14	+40.069	29
22	51	Bryan Schouten	Honda	14	+46.619	25
23	19	Alessandro Tonucci	Aprilia	14	+47.645	27
24	43	Francesco Mauriello	Aprilia	14	+47.904	34
25	21	Harry Stafford	Aprilia	14	+48.341	20
26	17	Taylor Mackenzie	Aprilia	14	+1:03.962	24
27	36	Joan Perelló	Aprilia	14	+1:06.347	30
28	75	Thomas van Leeuwen	Honda	14	+1:10.403	31
29	67	Jerry van de Bunt	Honda	14	+1:22.128	28
30	96	Louis Rossi	Aprilia	14	+1:23.063	18
31	50	Sturla Fagerhaug	Aprilia	14	+1:25.572	16
32	61	Ernst Dubbink	Honda	14	+1:33.434	33
33	26	Adrián Martín	Aprilia	11	+3 laps	22
Ret	53	Jasper Iwema	Aprilia	12	Accident	32
Ret	31	Niklas Ajo	Aprilia	3	Retirement	23
DNS	18	Nicolás Terol	Aprilia		Did not start
OFFICIAL 125cc REPORT

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round seven has concluded.

Riders' Championship standings

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Casey Stoner	136
2	Jorge Lorenzo	108
3	Andrea Dovizioso	99
4	Valentino Rossi	81
5	Nicky Hayden	71

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos.	Constructor	Points
1	Honda	165
2	Yamaha	139
3	Ducati	89
4	Suzuki	33

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.