Moto GP returns to TT Assen and Francesco Bagnaia shows us how its done. Here’s the DRC’s report for the Moto GP weekened.
The No. 1 still undefeated
Throughout the weekened, it was an absolute domination by the no. 1 bike of Francesco Bagnaia. His weekend started by topping the first free practice session by 0.065 seconds over Marc Marquez. He went further and topped every available session for the weekend. Everything from the practice session to the 2nd free practice, sprint and even the race, all went under the belt of the Italian.
With another TT Assen victory, Pecco has managed to win at this venue three years in a row. In an ongoing close contested championship, Bagnaia closed the gap to chart leader Jorge Martin to just 10 points.
Elsewhere, Jorge Martin started the weekend with qualifying directly for the Q2 from the friday practice. Come Q2 on Saturday, Martin was trading the lap record with Pecco. It was Pecco who broke the lap record first but Jorge fought back and posted a time of 1:30:877.
Pecco, however, wasn’t done yet. In the closing moments of Q2, he put up a time of 1:30:540 to have the lap record back under his name. Martin eventually qualified in P2 for the race and the sprint.
The next session, sprint, was relatively uneventful for Martin, as he finished where he started, 2nd.
Trouble came for him after the sprint, as he got awarded a 3 place grid penalty for sunday’s race for obstructing Raul Fernandes in Q2 on saturday.
This meant that Sunday’s race became a case of damage limitation for the spaniard. He, however, shot into P3 owing to a strong start and later passed Maveric Vinales on same lap. From then on, it was really cruise control for Martin as he couldn’t answer Bagnaia strong pace. He eventually crossed the line in P2, his highest result at this venue.
A weekend to forget for Marc Marquez
Marc Marquez would’ve went into this weekend hoping for a better result. With a crash and DNF in sprint and a penalty dropping him to P10 in race, it was a subpar weekend for Marquez.
Fresh off the Ducati signing, Marquez started the weekend strong with a P2 by 0.065 seconds from the Ducati of Bagnaia in FP1. He ended up in P6 in the practice session, gaining a direct entry into Q2 for Saturday.
However, come Q2, Marquez crashed in the closing stages, and ended up only with a 7th place starting position for sprint and the race.
Come the Sprint on Saturday, it was disaster again for #93. He slid in the opening portion of the sprint on turn 2.
With only Sunday’s race left for Marquez to grab whatever points he can, he started the race strong and passed Vinales for P3. He would stay there for some laps before an incoming attack and pass from Fabio Di Giannantonio meant that Marquez slotted into P4. Some laps later the top 3 had changed as Vinales had passed both Marquez and Enea Bastianini to slot into 3rd.
Seeing this, #23 too tried his chances on Marquez and sent it down the inside.
Bastianini went ahead and came in P3 come the race end. Marquez later capitalized on a mistake of Vinales and crossed the line in P4.
However, all his work came undone as he got given a 16 second tyre pressure penalty post race.
This Penalty dropped Marquez all the way down to P10 and his points down to just 6 from the entire weekend.
Marquez now sits at 142 points in the championship, 58 points behind the table topper Jorge Martin. With the championship heating up, he will be looking forward to the German GP to come back in the title fight.
Aprilia on the up, but Espargaro down
Aprilia had an overall lukewarm weekend at the TT Assen. With Maverick Vinales finishing the sprint in P3 and the race in P5, it was strong showing from his side of the garage.
He was in P2 in friday’s practice and FP2 on saturday, less than a tenth away from P1 at both occasions. Come the end of qualifying, he was p3 by just 4 tenths. At the sprint start, Vinales lost P3 to Alex Marquez but managed to move back past him come the end of lap 2.
On the other side of the garage, it was not a happy place. Aleix Espargaro had to withdraw from the warm up and the race on sunday . He had crashed in the sprint on Saturday. Their test rider, Lorenzo Savadori also suffered small vertebrae lumbar fractures in sprint. He was declared unfit for the race on sunday.
New engine for Yamaha debuts at TT Assen
At the Dutch GP, we got to see what Yamaha had been working on behind the scenes.
At the start of the year, Yamaha brought about a new engine. It gave it’s riders more power to use, but also took away the bike nimbleness. This upgrade at Dutch GP was meant to solve exactly that.
At the end of the friday practice, Quartararo had mixed reaction to his bike. He exclaimed that the bike is now better in slow corners but the fast corners remain the same.
This new engine comes in at a time when Prima PRAMAC Racing has announced to Yamaha machinery from 2025.
Fabio Quartararo had an overall good weekend. He finished in the points in P7 in the sprint from a P13 start. In the race however, he could only manage a P12 finish.
Alex Rins on the other hand, had a disasterous end to his weekend. He had a major highside on lap 1 turn 1 in the race and was taken into the medical centre.
Rins has had severe bruises in his right hand and fractures in his right foot. He has been taken to Madrid for further examination. His participation in German GP is yet to be confirmed.
Championship Standings
After the Dutch GP, here is how the championship looks like:
The next Moto GP race weekend takes place in Sachsenring from 5 July to 7 July.
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One reply on “TT Assen – Bagnaia’s masterclass in the Netherlands”
[…] away Martin’s lead to just 10 points in his third championship charge. With Pecco having two impeccable weekends back to back, Martin undoubtedly needs to have a good weekend […]