MotoGP Race And Practice Results

The MotoE cup provided the first racing entertainment of the weekend at Assen, and it delivered a solid doze of adrenaline over eight hard-fought laps. Poleman Dominique Aegerter didn’t have it all his own way as Matteo Ferrari robbed him off the line, while Mattia Casadei ran wide at the first corner and dropped to fifth, behind the LCR duo of Eric Granado and Miquel Pons. By the end of the opening lap, Ferrari, Aegerter and Granado looked like they were extending a gap at the front but the chasing group were not keen to let them go and Casadei made a quick comeback into contention.

Granado was the standout performer by lap four, finding a way past both Aegerter and Ferrari at turn 15 in consecutive laps, leaving the two to keep each other busy. Aegerter attacked Ferrari at the final chicane and the Italian attempted to retaliate at the first corner but instead ran wide and dropped to fifth place for the final trio of laps, promoting Casadei and Marc Alcoba into the podium battle.

The penultimate lap brought Aegerter back to the front of the field for the first time since they lined up on the grid, but going three-wide into turn seven saw Casadei come out on top. A near tangle between Aegerter and Granado made the Brazilian lose touch with the leaders ahead of the final lap, leaving Casadei and Aegerter to battle it out for the win. The Swiss rider attacked at turn five but a mistake on the exit dropped him back behind the Italian, however, the moment did not seem to unsettle him in the slightest, Aegerter back on Casadei’s tail to make one last attack at the final chicane.

Aegerter took the chequered flag eight hundredths of a second ahead of Casadei and the Italian’s frustration out the final corner allowed Granado back into contention to steal second away by nine thousandths of a second. With Alcoba taking a fast tumble at turn 15 on the final lap, Ferrari took fourth unchallenged, ahead of Hector Garzo and Pons, while Bradley Smith and Jordi Torres both made the top 10 on their return from injury.

Aegerter’s victory adds some more points to his advantage in the world cup standings, now 34 points ahead of Granado and 42 over Ferrari, with Casadei 58 points back.

Results:

Premier class qualifying got underway with a sense of urgency, even more than usual, with darkening cloud cover gathering over the Dutch circuit. However, rain never made a significant appearance and the enthusiastic crowds got to see Pecco Bagnaia secure back-to-back pole positions with a new all-time lap record around Assen. The Italian could even afford to sit out the final couple of minutes of Q2 without anyone being able to retaliate. Fabio Quartararo did manage to close the gap to one tenth of a second, but his final flying lap was compromised by a moment at turn five and the world champion had to settle for second on the grid. Jorge Martin was the early pacesetter, the youngster attacking the lap record straight out the gates but eventually dropping to third, not helped by a late tumble at turn five.

The Ducati deja-vu continued on the second row of the grid, where Marco Bezzecchi and Jack Miller sandwiched Aleix Espargaro. The impressive rookie ended the session less than three tenths of a second off pole and ahead of title contender Espargaro, while Miller could not improve on sixth following a late tumble at turn three and with another penalty possibly incoming, for impeding Maverick Viñales on his final flying lap.

Johann Zarco adds a Ducati to the third row of the grid as well, ahead of Q1 graduate Miguel Oliveira and a subdued Alex Rins, while Q1 leader Brad Binder shares fourth row with Viñales and the lonely Honda of Takaaki Nakagami. The factory KTMs looked like the overwhelming favourites throughout Q1, so the likes of Luca Marini, Joan Mir and Fabio Di Giannantonio had to settle for a fifth row start, with Mir also joining the generous crash list at turn five.

Q1 got off to a pretty disastrous start for Enea Bastianini, who abandoned his machine with a technical issue just after exiting pitlane and having to jog back to his garage. Although the Italian was able to rejoin for the final half of Q1, the best he could do on his second machine was to match his teammate and start 16th, opening sixth row in the rather unfamiliar company of Andrea Dovizioso and Stefan Bradl.

Results:

The sun had hidden behind light grey clouds by the time the qualifying show was opened by the lightweight class, but that did not stop lap times from nearing lap record pace. Although Izan Guevara has been the man of the moment of late – and as recent as FP3 this morning – the battle for pole ended up being an all-Japanese affair. After Tatsuki Suzuki led the way at the start of Q2, the Leopard racing rider took a tumble in the final couple of minutes of the session and, right on cue, compatriot Ayumu Sasaki robbed him of pole by six hundredths of a second. Guevara was a threat as well, but the Spaniard encountered yellow flags at the wrong time and had to settle for the final place on the front row. While he might have missed out on pole position, Guevara won’t be too upset to see teammate and title rival Sergio Garcia in a lacklustre 18th grid position after a pretty anonymous Q2.

Rookie David Muñoz continues his impressive debut in the world championship, this time with fourth on the grid, opening the second row from the much more experienced Dennis Foggia and Jaume Masia. Adrian Fernandez made a successful escape from Q1 to climb as high as seventh on the grid, sharing third row with Lorenzo Fellon – the Frenchman particularly impressive after the heavy tumble suffered in the morning session – and fellow Q1 graduate Xavier Artigas. Joel Kelso completed the top 10 positions, ahead of John McPhee, who joined the crash list at turn one in the final couple of minutes of Q2, and Q1 leader Dani Holgado, who will have a long lap penalty to serve for crashing under yellow flags in FP3.

Ryusei Yamanaka, Stefano Nepa and Andrea Migno make up row five, with championship leader Garcia at the back of row six, behind Riccardo Rossi and Deniz Öncü. He will have some threats from behind as well, from the likes of Diogo Moreira, who missed out on Q2 by one tenth of a second, and some other excellent rookies, such as Ivan Ortolá or Scott Ogden.

Results:

The collective prayers thankfully paid off and the Cathedral of Speed was a dry place of worship by Saturday morning, allowing the premier class to immediately challenge Friday’s benchmark. The stars of FP3 were the Aprilias, with Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales trading top spot throughout the session and the elder statesman eventually securing the lead despite a late tumble at turn three. Espargaro’s crash was one of a handful that caused a burst of yellow flags in the final few minutes of the session, halting progress for Aprilia’s challengers and seeing quite a bit of movement in the top 10 due to cancelled lap times. Fabio Quartararo managed to avoid all that to stay second, as the Aprilias’ main challenger throughout the session, ending the morning only four hundredths of a second behind the leading Spaniard.

A yellow flag infringement for Viñales dropped him to seventh, allowing Alex Rins to inherit third position and helping Takaaki Nakagami into fourth, as the sole Honda representative in the top 10. With Pol Espargaro withdrawing from the weekend due to pain and discomfort from the injuries suffered in Germany and Alex Marquez joining Stefan Bradl at the bottom of the top 20, Nakagami will be hoping to carry the Honda flag as close to the top as possible and make a solid bid for saving his seat.

Marco Bezzecchi was a consistent feature at the top end of the timesheets and ended the session fifth, only two tenths off top spot and as the lead Ducati rider, just ahead of Pecco Bagnaia. Friday’s leader was one of the late improvers on the timing screens, focusing on pace early on but eventually re-joining the top 10 in sixth position. Viñales’ penalty dropped him to seventh, ahead of the Pramac duo of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco, with Jack Miller rounding out the top 10 positions.

Joan Mir started the session looking pretty strong, despite some early bodywork-going-rogue issues, but eventually missed out on a direct placement in Q2 by eight hundredths of a second and will join a competitive Q1 together with the likes of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Enea Bastianini – both teammates’ placement affected by late crashes – as well as the KTM duo of Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira and the Ducati of Luca Marini, whose session was affected by an early tumble at turn 10.

Results: