Francesco Bagnaia broke the Assen record and took pole position for the MotoGP Dutch GP. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo lines up on the front row
Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia is the pole-position rider for the MotoGP Dutch GP. Pecco clocked 1min31s504 in the session held this Saturday (25) in Assen, breaking the track record and putting himself in the position of honor for the fourth time in the 2022 season.
Championship leader Fabio Quartararo of France's Yamaha will start second, 0s116 seconds slower than Bagnaia. Pramac's Jorge Martin from Spain completes the front row at Assen.
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The surprising Marco Bezzecchi of VR46 starts from fourth position. Aleix Espargaró took the Aprilia to fifth place, while Ducati's Jack Miller finishes row 2. Johann Zarco, Miguel Oliveira, Álex Rins, and Brad Binder round out the top-10.
The Dutch GP of MotoGP in Assen will take place this Sunday at 9:00 AM (EST).GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all the activities of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship.
Quartararo wins duel with Bagnaia by 0s1 and leads practice 4 at Assen
After a wet Friday, MotoGP was able to start TL4 on a dry track. As on Saturday morning, the sky was partly cloudy, but with the temperature at 24°C and the asphalt reaching 31°C. The relative humidity was 58%, with the wind blowing at 10 km/h.
Jack Miller started the session on top with a lap of 1'34.100, 0.153 seconds ahead of Fabio Quartararo. Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, and Lorenzo Savadori were rounding out the top five.
Bagnaia went 1min33s263 in the sequence and took command, 0s302 better than Quartararo. Miller also improved and moved up to third, ahead of Enea Bastianini and Luca Marini.
Pecco went even better on the next lap, clocking 1min32s695, which served to extend his margin over Quartararo to 0s226. Joan Mir moved up to third, followed by Takaaki Nakagami and Aleix Espargaró.
Already using a soft tire in the rear and a hard one in the front, Aleix Espargaró advanced to second, 0s185 behind Bagnaia. Quartararo dropped to third, followed by Brad Binder and Mir.
Past the ten-minute barrier to the finish, Quartararo went 1min32s643 and took command, only 0s036 better than Bagnaia. Aleix was still third, now closely followed by Viñales. Brad Binder was fifth, escorted by Jorge Martín and Luca Marini.
Martín managed to improve further and climbed to fourth, ahead of Miller. Viñales dropped to sixth, followed by Brad Binder, Marini, Mir, and Bastianini. Morbidelli was 11th.
Near the final minute of practice 4 Bagnaia's 1min32s578 was back at the top, 0s065 faster than the French Yamaha rider. On his lap, Fabio couldn't turn it around, but reduced the gap to 0s049.
With the checkered flag waving at the Cathedral of Motorcycling, 'El Diablo' went through in 1min32s478 and regained the lead by overtaking Bagnaia by exactly 0s100. Miller was third ahead of Aleix Espargaró, Oliveira, Martín, Bastianini, Viñales, Brad Binder, and Marini.
Q1: Brad Binder leads KTM teammate into final qualifying
As soon as he started the first of qualifying, Bastianini suffered a setback: a problem with his bike, which stalled and had to be abandoned. The Italian then started to run towards the pits, supported by the fans, in search of the reserve bike, which was prepared by the Gresini mechanics.
Brad Binder opened the session at the top of the chart, with 1min32s754, 0s339 ahead of Remy Gardner. Miguel Oliveira was third.
On the next lap, Oliveira jumped into the lead 0s204 better than Binder. Mir dropped to third, 0s144 behind a spot in the next qualifying round. Andrea Dovizioso was fourth, ahead of Gardner and Álex Márquez.
With almost five minutes left in the session, Joan Mir suffered a crash at De Strubben, turn 5, but was not injured. The Spaniard kept trying to get the GSX-RR back on track and, after a great deal of insistence, he managed to get it back on track.
Meanwhile, the KTM duo remained comfortable at the top of the grid, with Binder 0s144 ahead of Mir, the first one below the cut-off line for the next qualifying round. Luca Marini was trying to improve, but the Italian could only jump to fourth, 0.040s slower than the Suzuki rider.
Further back Morbidelli also improved, but only to finish eighth, 0s546 slower than Oliveira. Stefan Btad, incidentally, jumped up to sixth.
With a little more than 1min30s to go, Binder clocked 1min32s485 and turned the tables on Oliveira, taking the lead with 0s065 of a margin. Marini jumped to third, 0s237 behind Miguel.
Bastianini, in turn, appeared very slow at the Geert Timmer Bocht chicane, but apparently without any problems with the bike. So much so that the Italian advanced, but only to sixth place.
With the timer locked, Mir opened a good lap, but couldn't keep up the pace and couldn't improve. Binder and Oliveira will go through to Q2, while Marini will start 13th ahead of Mir, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Bastianini, Dovizioso, Bradl, Gardner, Morbidelli, Álex Márquez, Lorenzo Savadori, Raúl Fernández, and Darryn Binder.
Q2: Bagnaia takes fourth pole in six races in MotoGP
A few drops of rain fell here and there since TL4, but the track remained mostly clear on the eve of the final qualifying session at Assen.
Racing against time to escape the rain, Jorge Martín opened the session already beating the track record: 1min31s708, 0s020 better than Quartararo, who was also below the track's best time.
Shortly after, Quartararo slipped off the track at turn 1, but avoided a crash and continued on in the session. The Frenchman was ahead of Bagnaia, Miller, and Bezzecchi.
After a pitstop, Bagnaia came back in full force, putting on a pair of soft tyres, to set a best time of 1min31s504, and dethrone Martin by 0s204 for provisional pole. Bezzecchi was fifth, ahead of Miller and Aleix.
With a little over three minutes to go, Martin crashed at turn 5, but was not injured and was soon back on track.
Zarco managed to move up to seventh place ahead of Oliveira and Viñales. Rins rounded out the top-10, ahead of Binder and Nakagami.
Before the final minute, Miller crashed in turn 3, but was not injured, just annoyed. Quartararo, soon after, went 1min32s620 to move into second, 0s116 slower than Pecco.
With the checkered flag waving at Assen, Fabio had a good scare and had to make a save when he lost his balance and almost crashed.
MotoGP, GP of Holland, Classification: