The historic Assen Circuit in The Netherlands is the stage for this weekend’s third round of the 2025 Superbike World Championship. Friday brought stable, dry conditions, which allowed PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders Zaqhwan Zaidi and Tarran Mackenzie to make constructive use of both the day’s free practices.

Mid-morning, in cool conditions, the squad set to work during FP1. Mackenzie made a confident start to the weekend, moving up inside the top ten in the initial stages of this first practice. Looking comfortable on his CBR1000RR-R the British rider put in a steady performance before taking a step during the final minutes, putting in a best of 1’35.637 to close sixteenth. Rookie Zaidi is again tasked with learning a new circuit and so used FP1 to familiarise himself with the track layout while starting to work on the setup of his Honda together with his crew. Setting an initial time of 1’40.003 during this phase, the Malaysian will adopt the same strategy he used at Portimão, aiming to work methodically and improve on his references in every session.

Temperatures rose a little for the afternoon’s second practice, another 40-minute stint in which Zaidi and Mackenzie continued to gain ground. Tarran was able to improve both his lap times and his overall performance, completing an encouraging and consistent session that augers well for the weekend’s races. A fastest time of 1’34.787 put him sixteenth in the day’s combined standings. On the other side of the garage, a determined Zaqhwan kept his head down and continued to work hard during FP2. Building both his knowledge of the track and his confidence with the bike with every exit made, the Malaysian took almost one second off his morning’s best. A 1’39.152 set towards the end of the session saw Zaidi round out day one in twenty-third position.

Tarran Mackenzie #95

“In terms of bike setup, we went back to where we were on Friday at Portimão and immediately felt good chassis-wise. We didn’t change a lot and just focused on trying to fine tune the electronics really. But it was nice to head out and feel more competitive straight away. To be 1.1 seconds from the front is pretty good, so I’m quite happy - I think this has been one of my better Fridays. Now we just need to keep the ball rolling for tomorrow really and see what we can do, but I’m feeling good, in myself and on the bike, and am pleased with how today went.”

Zaqhwan Zaidi #21

“Today’s practices were for sure a little tough for me, as this is my first time at the Assen track. So I need to learn fast, adapt to the track and try to set good lap times. We’ve improved lap by lap but it’s still not enough of course. We have another chance to improve in tomorrow’s FP3, when we’ll do our best to prepare for Superpole. Hopefully we can make good progress, and I will be doing all I can to score a better result. A big thanks to the team for all their hard work today, and now we look forward to tomorrow’s race.”