2022 Assen MotoGP Race Result: A Tale Of Joy And Jubilation – And A Bit Of A Blunder

By Zara Daniela | Sun, 26/06/2022 - 13:23

An overcast cathedral invited premier class riders to a very noisy flare-filled sermon and the first to arrive was poleman Pecco Bagnaia, who rode a flawless race and was not intimidated by title rivals, rookies or rain flags on his way to his third victory of the season. The winner wasn’t even the loudest man in parc fermé, a delightfully joyous Mooney VR46 team celebrating their and Marco Bezzecchi’s first podium, the rookie securing a well-deserved second place ahead of Maverick Viñales, who takes his first podium for Aprilia.

With Bagnaia setting off in the distance as soon as the lights turned off on the grid, churchgoers had to focus their attention on the battle for best-of-the-rest, where Jorge Martin and Aleix Espargaro were making Fabio Quartararo’s life harder on the opening lap. While the Frenchman was finding a way past the Spaniards, Bagnaia extended a gap that nudged nine tenths of a second by the end of the first lap. Espargaro hinted at reducing that gap to half a second on the second lap, with Quartararo in tow, while Bezzecchi attacked Martin and Jack Miller served his long lap penalty, inviting Brad Binder into sixth position early on. The penalty dropped the Australian to the bottom of the top 10, ahead of the big losers of the opening lap, Johann Zarco having dropped to 11th position and Alex Rins to 16th, while Enea Bastianini found a couple places into 13th and Joan Mir lingered in 14th after a troubled start.

With Bagnaia attempting to stretch a healthy gap at the front, Quartararo was keen to pick up the pursuit – perhaps too keen – and made a rare mistake, losing the front at turn five while overtaking Espargaro and taking both of them through the gravel trap. Both riders were able to rejoin, Espargaro in 15th position, eight seconds off the lead, and Quartararo last, nine seconds behind his teammate. The early drama left Bagnaia with a generous one second advantage over Bezzecchi only five laps into the race, but the rookie, under pressure from Martin, set a hot pace and was finding a tenth here and there, to keep the gap manageable. Another second and a half behind, Binder led the pursuit from Viñales, while Miller was catching up once more after serving his penalty, with Taka Nakagami and Miguel Oliveira in tow. Helped somewhat by the incident ahead, Zarco and Mir joined the top 10 positions, with the Gresini duo knocking on the doors while Espargaro was pushing to bridge the one second gap to the two Ducatis. With not much movement at the front, the cameras were busy following Quartararo’s quick pitstop before re-joining the action one lap down and promptly getting thrown off again at turn five – the Frenchman looking annoyed and bruised but generally okay.

Although Bagnaia was under no immediate threat, Bezzecchi and Martin were keeping him on his toes until the hallway point of proceedings, when the leader picked up the pace and increased his advantage to 1.5 seconds over the next couple of laps. Another second behind the youngsters, Viñales had picked up the pursuit from Binder and Miller, while Nakagami dropped from 7th to 11th after serving a long lap penalty for exceeding track limits, leaving Oliveira in a rather lonely seventh position but soon to have company from a charging Aleix Espargaro, who made quick work of Mir and Zarco with 11 laps remaining.

As if the early drama was not enough, white flags started waved with 10 laps left, with sparse spots of rain showing on cameras. The Pramac riders were the first to blink, both of them losing a handful of positions over the next lap, Martin dropping to 6th and Zarco to 13th, but the rest of the field did not seem to be too bothered. Bagnaia maintained a one second gap over Bezzecchi, who in turn had the same advantage over Viñales, but with our usual rain enthusiasts battling it out for fifth just behind him, Miller attacking Binder with six laps remaining. Martin maintained position in sixth, with a just-about comfortable gap over Espargaro, while Mir, Oliveira and Rins settled the remaining top 10 positions.

With the rain flags proving to be a storm in a teacup, Bagnaia entered the final couple of laps with nearly two seconds’ advantage, while his rookie VR46 Academy colleague cruised home to secure the second step on the podium. However, Viñales’ third place was still under threat from Miller and the Ducati man attacked at the GT chicane before the start of final lap but ran wide and allowed Viñales to escape while Miller himself dropped into Binder’s clutches. Aleix Espargaro, who had robbed Martin of sixth on the penultimate lap, patiently watched the squabble between Miller and Binder and saw an opportunity to slide past both of them at the final chicane to claim fourth. Binder took fifth ahead of Miller, while Martin faded to seventh and Mir, Oliveira and Rins completed the top 10. An anonymous Bastianini came home in 11th position, ahead of the lead Honda of Nakagami in 12th.

Despite Quartararo’s blunder, Espargaro recovered to reduce the gap in the world championship to 21 points, so the Spaniard quite enthusiastically accepted his friend's apologies. Zarco lost further ground with a 58-point deficit, while victor Bagnaia is 66 points behind.

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Time/Diff
1 63 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 40:25.2050
2 72 Marco Bezzecchi Ducati 0.444
3 12 Maverick Viñales Aprilia 1.209
4 41 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 2.585
5 33 Brad Binder KTM 2.721
6 43 Jack Miller Ducati 3.045
7 89 Jorge Martin Ducati 4.340
8 36 Joan Mir Suzuki 8.185
9 88 Miguel Oliveira KTM 8.325
10 42 Alex Rins Suzuki 8.596
11 23 Enea Bastianini Ducati 9.783
12 30 Takaaki Nakagami Honda 10.617
13 5 Johann Zarco Ducati 14.405
14 49 Fabio Di Giannantonio Ducati 17.681
15 73 Alex Marquez Honda 25.866
16 4 Andrea Dovizioso Yamaha 29.711
17 10 Luca Marini Ducati 30.296
18 6 Stefan Bradl Honda 32.225
19 87 Remy Gardner KTM 34.947
20 32 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 35.798
Not Classified
  25 Raul Fernandez KTM 28:44.7500
  20 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 18:55.2880
  21 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 14:16.5470
  40 Darryn Binder Yamaha 12:42.8170
2022
11
MotoGP
Assen, The Netherlands
↑Back to top

Comments

What a magnificent race.

And a brilliant Aleix, what a ride.
Can only wonder what result he could have gotten without the FQ mistake.

congratz to Bezz, looked solid from saturday onwards. Kid could get far in this class…

If Assen is viewed through the championship scoresheet, Fabio’s race could be charitably described  as a bit of a blunder. The events that transpired on track were much worse, particularly Yam sending Fabio back out, after he pulled in. We don’t have access to the data, but Quartararo went over the high side and his bike ended up in the middle of the track. Yikes! This isn’t F1. We don’t need more on track carnage to improve TV ratings.

for sure. I thought maybe the events just got into Fabio's head and he figured points were out of the question and the team set him straight. IDK, interesting. Fabio's definately a fighter so it leads to questions. Glad he has some time to recover. That highside happened late on the gas.

Ran into a bunch of my old racing buddies. Good time! Too bad about the chicane on the front straight and the reprofiled entrance to the waterfall, otherwise the track has a lot of interesting features. I can't believe they insist on running the chicane on the opening lap, it just leads to uneeded incidents. If you haven't been out there its defineately a great track day course. So if ORP.

Maybe they had a view on the weather, the rain did come but only a few drops. If it had rained enough for a bike swap then he might well have been in with a chance of a Binder special or at the very least luck himself into a few points. From his previous pace he dropped around 1.5 seconds for a couple of laps before pitting. I think that means there was an issue of some sort. I can't imagine the TC was complete kaput but something not right. He did two laps before pitting of 34.5/34.2 which was around the pace of Marini Dovi. They finished 16th and 17th, the first two riders with no points from the race. Dry, no point. If they had ideas the rain would come then worth trying to continue and swap onto a nice shiny new bike. If Fabio thought the bike was not ok to ride then he should have walked away but I think we saw why he is doing as well as he is. He has a primeval rage to win. It's well harnessed when he's in the race but you see it when the race is finished.

Not losing it after the Fabio "incident" and carving through the pack and make it to the podium?! I spent the whole race rooting for Espargaro and following his fantastic progression. Fantastic! Loved every minute of it. If the championship were decided on commitment and fighting spirit, we have our champion... And what about the sheer joy of Maverick? It felt like a kid in a candy store. Aprilia is getting there. Bravissimi.

And Bez... When he lost the championship to Bastianini I sincerely thought he did not have all it takes. I'm so glad to see the great progression he is making in his rookie year.  And he's such a cool kid.

Still, Aleix made my day. I'm gonna re-watch the race just to enjoy what he did. 

I watched the race live on TV and now I am going to watch it again to enjoy it a second time with different commentary on the MotoGP website! What a ride and what a last couple of laps! All of a sudden he was in the lead group! What a series of decisive overtakes too, sometimes it looked as if he was on a 250 with a 1200 cc engine. Brilliant

I have been banging the Bez drum to my mates since 2018 when he hopped on the KTM. 

There’s something special there for sure - he looks so natural on that bike and today he looked like he belonged at the front!

at the TV. What a great day for Aleix!

The world feed kept talking about him "minimizing his losses". WTF? Do they not know how the championship works? He could only make gains. They also kept focusing in on Pecco being back in the championship. Nope, still two races off the mark and odds are both Fabio and Aleix don't fall off a cliff. The real deal is this puts Aleix within 1 race of Fabio and the fact the Aleix put in such a performance as he did today means way more than a race win off the front with your two rivals out of the picture.

Summer break here we come!

Good to see Quartararo got a long lap after the break. His move had no chance and a penalty is consistent with what has happened to others. It did give us the option for AE to show us a controlled passion in his recovery that was special.

but do you think any rider needs extra punishment for an "unsafe" move when he incurs huge losses on track as a result?  The consequence is in-line with others yet we see that some guys get away with the move and gain an advantage and others really loose out. Seems like the penalty process should reflect this somehow.

That was simply an over-ambitious racing incident. The freak-heads in race control consider that worth punishing and not that dickhead Taka's move at Catlunya? Give it a rest.

Or perhaps FQ got what he actually deserved after everyone had a good whinge about Taka's lack of penalty. You can't screech for change and then screech when it happens. Well.. you can, but yeah.

it was a stupid move but compared to Taka's... The thing that really puzzles me is that the panel never bothered to think about the dangerous move of the Yamaha garage, sending back on track a bke that might have been damaged, a danger, ridden by a rider whose airbag was not functioning... That was pretty reckless and IMO needs to be investigated. Expecially in the light of the fact that disregarding safety for Fabio and the others the decision was made on the sole assumption, gamble, that with rain coming the riders were going to swap bikes thus giving a new chance to Fabio. I'm surprised that Yamaha is behaving like this. 

 

There are 2 airbags in the suit. They are designed for 2 get offs. But ya, the inconsistency...Fabio had everything to lose so the move could only have been a mistake. The harm it did to his championship is the cost of his miscalculation not worthy of any other penalty, imo.

Taka careens over the edge repeatedly yet no penalty for a stupid stupid stupid move with no great upside for him. Taka gaining a place or 2 in the first turn means absolutely nothing to him. He should have been penalized for trying to put himself where he doesn't belong -- among the frontrunners.

I never liked Freddie even though he's the most spectacular rider I've seen. He was fast and he seems to think that makes him smart. If so, I would like to debate the issue with him. Shitcan Freddie now, yesterday, last month, he is not up to the job. Part of which should be to face the press and account for his actions and decisions. Freddie is incompetent and appears to be a coward. What a combination. You can resign right here to the mutterers, Freddie. We'll happily get it to Dorna for you. Bye Bye now.

Not really, just asking. Taka seems to have been transformed into making error after error after stupid mistake after stupid mistake from two recent incidents. The first of which you could just as easily ask Rins where he expected Taka to go. The other he gained whatever it was 8 to 10 places way before T1, before touching the brakes and then ran into the back of Pecco who it is fairly obvious he wasn't thinking of passing.

However, my memory is a bit hmmm so maybe i forget some races.

I agree, no penalty should have been added. I also agree with D999 that calls for penalties hit all, hope everybody is happy when they inevitably receive theirs. However, if we had to compare Fabio's incident and Taka's then it's worth taking note of some differences. Taka wasn't making any move. Taka was charging off the start into T1 in a big group of riders. He had pretty much settled his position with the riders around him and was caught out by the riders ahead of him. He screwed up but he wasn't trying to pass anyone. The grid into T1 off the start, rapidly changing situation funneled into T1. On the other hand Fabio was following Aleix, set the move up through T3 and T4 and sent it up the inside. He had looked at the exact same move the lap before but didn't get the run or was just feeling it out I don't know. I don't think there was anything reckless or unusual.

To me it seems a bit bonkers to penalise riders for racing in a race. Things do go wrong occasionally. I think this penalty initiative is the result of the money and effort that manufacturers are putting into the game. Everything so close and on the edge. A DNF represents a large amount of money and effort for nothing on that weekend and a dent in the end championship goal. In some ways it's understandable that if another rider causes that loss then they should be punished. However, when riders are punished based on that loss and not on the basis of being reckless, stupid or dangerous then the long term effect will be negative for the sport. When even well judged, well intentioned but unfortunate moves result in penalties, riders will stop making them...what do they call it ?...ahhh ya, racing not time trial. Remember the rider points system which came about as a result of Marc Marquez's early career in the lower categories. Too many overly aggressive, reckless, sometimes dangerous incidents which seemed to follow a particular rider around. Those situations were worthy of sanction, a corrective. Mistakes were allowed, it only came into force when a rider had accumulated enough bone headed losses of clarity for it to be reasonable to suggest a trend was appearing and somebody was going to get hurt. Enough of Marc's racing was not ok, it wasn't just a one off, something had to be done but the system was in place to correct riders who were on the wrong path. It takes several steps before you can say someone is following any path.  I think it's fair to say Fabio's racing, across his 3 and half years in MotoGP, is very acceptable yet here we are. Again, as D999 points out, I hope they all are very happy receiving theirs.

Am I the only one that thinks Fabios crash was as a result of Fabios hand hitting Aleix's elbow?  Not that it makes the pass any less ambitious but it certainly explains the brakes locking up...

My favorite re-watch, USA NBC "Extended Highlights," high quality 11 mins video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZN-f_Zta8M

Everyone, let's be sure to connect with the race excitement AND each other in friendly fashion. We needn't (which yr did we go nuts via Vale vs Marc, 2015? Let's not). Okay! What a RACE!

If you are like me, this race is getting dissected like a cadaver. Quartararo got surpassed at the start. Aleix had a BRILLIANT start. Mir had an oddly dangerous careening start and Marini should be pissed. I watched the start about 30 times, picking out every rider and every point of interest. This is one of those races.

Quartararo made a bonehead mistake. Asparagus was brilliant to keep it upright, let alone his Alien quality ride after getting back in the swing of things at a crap position. I think we should say it like this, especially because it is contrary to the script...Aleix Espargaro on his Aprilia forced Fabio Quartararo into fatal errors. He bested Quarty. Quarty fell, taking Aleix out with him. But he refused to die. Like a damn fast Zombie. Quarty got penalized a long lap at the British GP.

Not humble, I know, but called it for Bezz and Maverick. And Aleix, and mistakenly for Quarty. Back to the race...

FQ20 going back out a lap behind on an unexamined crashed bike and distraught? Shite idea. He hit his head pretty hard in that first wreck. Careful! Unnecessarily dangerous. That is on his garage. But his first crash rests firmly on his bruised shoulders, a most unusual occurrence. He was getting beat up in the early laps. He just lost his focus. He was frustrated. Over riding that bike so far, it involves dice rolls. Be thankful it is a Blue overextension as opposed to a Repsol one that actively tries to remove riders from the Paddock. 

KTM came with better goods at Assen. Brad brings bags of balls. Oliveira was doing the business too. Remy has been noted for recently giving the extra sauce. Fernandez has quit. But the bike was a competitor for the fast sweepers of the Cathedral. Well done Orange and #33.

Bezzecchi - keep an eye out. He has caught fire. Maverick has figured out how to ride the Aprilia. The team has sorted his bike for him. He learned how to start and run a full tank and fresh tires fast. His start was strong and clean. He did the business. But, this track was a Mav track. (What is the opposite of a bogey track anyway?). He had unlocked riding Black. But this was a stand outtrack for him. 

Pecco and Ducati deserve praise. Domination. Assen is a Ducati bogey track. Wait, NARRATIVE UPDATING - the Duc turns great. No longer can we say that. The Yamaha can't thrive at Yamaha tracks. The Suzuki is even out gunned by Red. The Italian bikes handle great. New era.

Tires...interesting. Ducati in particular! Pecco Soft/Hard, Martin Med/Hard, Bezz Med/Soft, Miller Soft/Soft, Zarco Med/Soft, Marini Soft/Hard, DiGi Soft/Soft, Bastiannini Med/Hard...isn't that nuts? Ok, no one on the Hard front, but look at all those tire combos on Red bikes! Weird.

Don't we have to say that, in addition to Pecco and Bezzecchi, that this was an important Round for Aprilia? Black is the real deal. So is Aleix Espargaro. And now, we can say Vinales is here too. Quarty is lucky Aleix is so kind and happy with his 4th, FQ20 deserved a whack to the head. 

LAVENDER UMBRELLA HOLDING STAFF oh my. Especially DiGi's. Goodness! Where was I? Contrast Factory BlueGals, just like their bike..."should be great, is on paper, trying to but for sure not."

Over 100,000 fans were on hand today. Cool! Isn't that fantastic? Sold out. I think our pandemic is over. Boom, today. Goodbye Covid. Hello our lives back. Unfortunately also hello the biggest drop and recession the economy has seen in a historically relevant period. Feel free to ignore it, but we'll be talking about it later - buckle up.

Weather for the Dutch Round? Cloudy but dry. The weather in Bagnaia's helmet? Clear and hot. Contrast with Championship leader Quarty, cloudy with a chance chance of buggery. At the last possible moment Pecco is reigniting his season.

Of course Bagnaia dominated this race. The Ducati is a freshly fantastic bike that turns with the best of them. After that though? Aleix in Black. He an Aprilia had the best of Quartararo and Yamaha. And it showed - Quarty chased blazingly fast Asparagus until diving and dropping like a newbie. No particular criticism of Quarty from me. No, praise for A.Espargaro! And Black. 

Look at Morbidelli crashing out of what, last? Did you see D.Binder's bike he threw down to the parts bin? Dovi hung in there, but Blue is feeling the Blues.

By the way, approaching grid spots stoppie Mir had his leg clipped by Oliveira who lost an aero wing. Then, Mir flew unbridled off at a careening trajectory into Marini. Weirdly crap start, like a wheelie save. You don't see this much in the big league. Thank goodness. 

Rude words...Raul Fernandez is a pr!ck. Nuff said. I don't care about fancy turn names nor how to say them. Just use T#, it helps to get a sense of the place. Pretentious.

Ducati was the bike to have at Assen of all places. Bagnaia's bike was steady as an anvil. And he banged it. Contrast the KTM, comparatively a wiggle worm. Little chance to compare with a Honda as Nakagami was fastest as mid pack. 

Mir 8th and injured Rins 10th IS a bit of a rejuvenation for Suzuki. One could argue otherwise, but everyone ahead if them was flying.

Okay, last thoughts? Aleix's finish. His double pass of elbow bashing late braking Binder and Miller was brilliant eh? Managing to carve the chicane from an inside line that was not freely proferred. Really pretty! Last corners on the gas, flip flop flicks and a nice power wheelie over the curbing. 

Aleix Espargaro rather won the race in 4th. Know what I mean? Love it.

Next year Yamaha only has two bikes. If this lean faced Morbidelli keeps this up, ONE. Are you seeing how bad this is for Blue? And how did it happen, who is responsible? Blue brass. They chewed through their own strengths. How long have we watched them crap in their own lunch? Short sighted, careless, right Herve? Take your medicine, get over yourselves, question your ethos, and come up with a better bike. More motor (like Suzuki did twice while you ran a Moto1.5 mill), it isn't a mystery. Then court a standout 2nd Team as a COLLABORATION rather than customer to poach riders from. 3 Factory bikes is fine, but not if the 4th is so crap. Make it a hybrid via a fresh engine. Via Tech3 and Aqua you are zero for two tries at a Jr Team. Your head, shoved up your arse, willingly. You are SO lucky to have Quartararo stay, otherwise you would be the laugh of the Paddock. Yes, you and Honda need a look in the mirror. Orange needs a new front tire, not a soul. 

Over and out.

My god, I fell in love instantly watching one of them parading onto the grid on saturday for the MotoE race. And she came back every race after that, lucky me and my binoculars ^_^

Reminded me of the blond and red haired combo used by Forward racing back in the day. Was always disappointed when they sounded the horn for the 3 min mark :-/

an entire potential career path becuase you don't have what it takes to be a "borlly girl". Good looking women and men shouldn't be able to make money off thier god-given gift? Next you'll be saying motorcycling is too dangerous and the folks with that talent shouldn't be allowed to work their stuff either. Perhaps only blood lusting old men like to watch such a dangerous sport. Shame, shame!

Funny how cultural standards change with the wind and at the drop of an... unbrella. If you don't like them then don't look at them, at least you can be consoled with the fact that these girls are earning a living doing what they are good at. Many of these fine ladies are surely King James types who have a future careers as a concert pianist in their back pocket, they just choose this right now. Don't judge. No need to cancel women this way, they have enough competition from hormones and the surgeon's knife nowadays. Hell, you don't even need that. Can't quite win in men's running? Just switch categories. Men are always looking to keep the ladies down. 

And since text can easily be misconstrued please read this in the most socratic and sarcastic since - a proposal of the hill that gets slippery when wet and the frame of reference one might approach this from. 

Fabio spilled it from 3rd, 0.6s behind the leader and in a position to make a pass for 2nd. Hardly ranks in the 'getting beat up' category. The brown stuff happens on your good days too. End of lap 1 Fabio was 1.2 seconds off the lead, then 0.95, 0.56, 0.6. Aleix lap 1, 0.7, 0.4, 0.4, 0.4. As always, impossible to know but looks like once past Aleix, Fabio could continue to catch Pecco (well 0.4 is caught really) or also possible that Fabio would find himself 0.4, 0.4, 0.4. Need to pass to find out. Starting lap five, half a second off the lead, in a 26 lap race, I doubt he was panicking.

Aleix was like a different person, no trantrums, headshakes, hand gestures. He got his head down and rode like a champion. His laptimes were stellar and it was like watching Rossi or Marquez cut through the field. Simply awesome! This Aprilia is looking good in the hands of these two. Cant wait for this break to get over.

Bez looked like a rockstar on the podium. Reminds me a lot of Rossi, so fitting he got their first podium. Surprising to see that much yellow in the stands after the star has left.

Yeah, ‘for sure’ a lot of Rossi DNA in Bezz (who’s your daddy?! You never know. What’s the age difference??) mixed with a bit of Marco Simoncelli swagger and hair style. Kid’s got my vote for a 2023 spec Duc next year

You have to luv him, but Aleix is certainly MotoGPs most ardent arm waver - he reminds me of those mobile things you sometimes see outside retail units, they work by blowing air up from the bottom - haha.

I think Aleix realised that FQ binning actually did Aleix a favour, of course every place he made up was points back on FQ, whereas if Fabio hadn't binned its likely he'd have finished ahead of Aleix or at best a place behind. No wonder Aleix was able to smile afterwards.

I'm not dissing AE btw - I really like him - he's a character and MotoGP needs them. Its also great that he's making hay way into his career on a previously unfancied bike - a great story. Has anyone asked Marco Melandri his view on all this? Well before Zarco he basically refused to ride it!

 

 

Last year Aleix would have either binned it or ruined his chances by running wide several times, he definitely made a step this year, making fewer mistakes and maybe another step during this race, especially with that double overtake in the chicane.

The lost art of overtaking, Aleix Espargaro gives us a masterclass!

Obviously AE41 knows the Aprilia very well, what it can do & how to get the best out of the machine.

So fast and yet still smooth.

Aleix is a journeyman genius. I'm super happy to see him going so well.

Also pleased to see Maverick on the podium again. Congratulations Aprilia for giving Mav a chance to redeem himself.