Special weekend ahead for Fieten Olie Racing GP with home Grand Prix in Assen

An important and special weekend is coming up for Fieten Olie Racing GP. The eighth Grand Prix of 2023 will be held and it is the last weekend of June, which means the home race of the sole Dutch Grand Prix team at the TT Circuit Assen is just around the corner. With Dutchman Zonta van den Goorbergh and Belgian Barry Baltus competing, it will also be a special weekend for both riders.

The TT Circuit Assen is 4.54 kilometres long and has six left and 12 right turns. After a major overhaul  in the winter of 2005 to 2006, the circuit has remained unchanged since 2012. It is still one of the most spectacular tracks on the current MotoGP calendar and the layout usually makes for exciting races.

As always, for Barry Baltus, Zonta van den Goorbergh and the team, the focus will be entirely on their performance during the weekend. For the home race at the TT Circuit Assen, however, Fieten Olie Racing GP will be present with a dedicated VIP area where sponsors, relations and guests will be well looked after and entertained. Given the favourable weather forecast, all the ingredients are there for an unforgettable weekend during the Dutch TT in Assen.

Barry Baltus: “We are going into the third consecutive Grand Prix weekend. The first one of these three was not so good and the second one was a lot better, hopefully this trend will continue. It is the home Grand Prix of the team and I hope that it will be my best weekend of the year so far, as it is also more or less a home GP for me. Assen is a track that I like a lot and the weather forecast is looking good, so it looks like it will be a great weekend. Last year I had a good race so I think we can do a good job this weekend.”

Zonta van den Goorbergh: “It is already time for the third consecutive Grand Prix weekend and the last one before the summer break. It is obviously a very special weekend for myself and the team because it is our home race. Even though it is a special weekend our goal is the same as always, we are going to do everything we can to get a great result. The most important thing is to do our best and hopefully we can then go into the summer break with a good result.”

Jarno Janssen – Fieten Olie Racing GP team manager: “These are busy times with Mugello, the Sachsenring and now of course Assen. It is the most important race of the year for us and at the TT Circuit Assen it is also a really big event, for both the team and all the sponsors. It is an intensive programme for the team and riders, after two consecutive race weekends they need to take time to recover.

We come to Assen with a good feeling, which is always nice to go into your home race like this. The results at the Sachsenring were good and we hope to continue this line in Assen. It is of course a completely different circuit: fast, flowing and if you go really fast the track becomes quite narrow. It is a track where we obviously have quite a bit of experience, we rode here a few weeks ago even though the conditions were not so good then. It still gives something extra, just like it gives Zonta something extra this weekend because it is also his home race. Looking back to last year in Assen, we also had a very good weekend. We will do everything to repeat it and hopefully improve on that this year.

As a team, we will have a large presence during this weekend with our VIP plaza, where we will welcome and entertain many guests again this year. Let’s hope the weather conditions remain kind to us and that it will be a fantastic weekend.”

The race weekend in Assen starts with two practice sessions on Friday and one practice session on Saturday morning, followed by qualifying on Saturday afternoon at 13:45. The 24-lap race will start at 12:15 on Sunday afternoon.