Assen ‘certainly one for the riders, such an enjoyable track’ - Sykes

Tom Sykes’ double Donington WorldSBK podium has left the Brit eager to carry that momentum into round five at Assen. 

This weekend will be Sykes’ second appearance with BMW at Assen - first on the new M 1000 RR. 

Given his, but also the team’s overall performance three weeks ago which saw team-mate Michael Van Der Mark claim a first podium for the team, Sykes believes the new bike has much more potential around Assen than the S 1000 RR possessed in 2019. 

"It goes without saying. Assen is a fantastic circuit, certainly one for the riders. It’s such an enjoyable track not just for myself but everybody, so I’m very excited to be here," said Sykes. 

"With the new M 1000 RR I think we have a lot better chance this time round. I’m quietly confident for the weekend."

With WorldSBK machinery not taking to the ‘cathedral of speed’ since 2019, this weekend’s event will be the first track action for all riders on the resurfaced layout. 

This should provide better grip - an area where BMW has struggled previously. 

Sykes added: "I struggled a little bit with the grip with our bike previously; certainly stopping performance is not my biggest concern, but I think here there’s a lot of high speed corners which I feel will help us a little bit with our grip issues. 

"It means we can maintain corner speed and not be as critical for the edge grip, so we will see. 

"We still have a few things to try on the back of the information we gathered from Donington; we’re back in Europe now so the tyre choice is better. It was quite small at Donington. Probably because of Brexit and all that jazz." 

Talking of tyres, Pirelli has introduced a new front tyre solution for the Dutch WorldSBK, meaning three different options will be available. The tyre allocation is the same as recently introduced at Misano (round three).