Weekend preview (June 29 - July 1): F1, MotoGP, Maini

Jorge Lorenzo could potentially be headed to a third straight MotoGP win at Assen, Netherlands.

Lorenzo and Ducati have managed to turn things around after a difficult first season of their partnership, with Lorenzo dominating the last two races.

However, changes have arrived a little too late as the Spaniard will be jumping ship to Honda next year, teaming up with countryman Marquez.

Speaking of Marquez, the 25-year-old continues to lead the riders’ standings by a healthy margin seven races into the season. Although he hasn’t had a perfect run this year, he’s been consistently fighting at the top while all his rivals have been taking points off each other.

Interestingly, despite Yamaha’s continued struggles, it’s Valentino Rossi who sits closest to Marquez on the leaderboard, but still 27 points off the Honda rider.

Arjun Maini’s France weekend was fraught with engine issues, consigning him to a best finish of 10th.

The problems he suffered all weekend - and earlier in the season - clearly took a toll on him, as made clear by his radio rant that drew worldwide attention.

However, there’s never been a question about Maini’s speed and one would hope that he can channel his Paul Ricard frustrations into a top-line performance in Austria. All he would need is a reliable car and engine.

Audi-backed Indian racer Aditya Patel will be competing at the Suzuka round of the Blancpain GT Asia series this weekend.

He will pilot a Audi R8 LMS GT3 alongside OD Racing teammate Mitch Gilbert at the legendary Japanese circuit.

Patel and his team haven’t been able to replicate last year’s results, where they lost out the championship by just a single point.

But Suzuka, a venue which is one of Patel’s favourites, could provide him and his team a chance to get their season back on track.

Armaan Ebrahim and Anindith Reddy will also be racing at the Suzuka circuit this weekend, but in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia series.

The Indian duo started the season with a podium finish in Malaysia, before scoring a double top-five result in Thailand.

As such, it’s fair to assume that the two will be racing at the sharp end of the field again.