Over the weekend, the Pirelli Dutch round at the historic TT Assen Circuit played host to round 3 of the World SuperBike Championship where Tarran looked to build on a positive round in Portugal.
Tarran got his weekend underway on Friday morning in the first free practice session where he made a fast start, posting quick lap times and moving inside the top 10 early on. Tarran managed to set his best lap time in the final few laps of the session with a time of 1’35.637, placing him in 16th.
After a short break, Tarran was ready for the second free practice session where he quickly improved his times from the morning and remaining consistent throughout. Tarran posted a best time of 1’34.787, placing him again in 16th.
The third and final free practice session took place on Saturday morning with Tarran and his PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team making some final changes ahead of the Superpole race. Tarran managed to slightly improve on his Friday time by a tenth of a second which meant another 16th placed finish.
After a quick turnaround, Tarran was ready for the Superpole race and got off to a quick start setting a time of 1’34.0. However, Tarran’s best was yet to come as he continued pushing and achieving a 1’33.539, placing him 15th on the grid.
Race 1 got underway on Saturday afternoon with Tarran starting the 21-lap race on the fifth row of the grid. As the lights turned green to get the race underway, Tarran made a jump start causing him to stall his bike on the grid and drop back straight away. Having made ground up, Tarran was hit with a double long lap penalty for the jump start. However, this didn’t seem to effect Tarran’s performance as he kept on pushing and making his way through the crowd, managing to gain 3 positions in the final stages. This meant Tarran finished race 1 in 12th and added 4 more championship points to his total.
Sunday brought the final day of action in round 3 of the World SBK with the day kicking off with a 10 lap Superpole race. Having started in 15th, Tarran made a fast start managing to climb to 9th within 4 laps and maintaining his speed, crossing the line in 9th and Tarran’s best World SBK result to date.
The final race got underway on Sunday afternoon with Tarran starting on the grid on the 3rd row due to the excellent finish on the Superpole race. Once again, Tarran managed to get off to a quick start jumping straight into 6th before slipping into 10th. As the race went on Tarran remained inside the points zone but just unable to match the pace of those in front. Nevertheless, Tarran crossed the line in 14th, also adding 5 more points to his championship points total.
This is what Tarran had to say on his weekend as Assen:
“It’s been a long process, but our hard work finally paid off in Assen as I was properly on the pace from our first free practice.
For the first race, I misjudged the lights, jumped the start and stalled the bike. There was worse to come as I was then given a double-long lap penalty costing another 8 seconds. I decided just to get my head down and use the track time as a test, but my pace was good, so I came in 12th at the chequered flag.
Sunday’s Superpole race was wet but after not jumping the start this time, I scored my best ever World Superbike result coming home in 9th place.
In the final race, I scored two more points in 14th which doesn’t sound so good, but I was happy with my pace and more valuable data going forward”.
With a successful round 3 under his belt, Tarran moves up to 18th in the championship standings and up to 9 points. Tarran’s full focus now turns to Italy at the Cremona Circuit with round 4 taking place over the 2nd – 4th May.