Francesco Bagnaia broke the MotoGP lap record at Assen by scoring a second consecutive pole position ahead of leader Fabio Quartararo. The race is scheduled to start at 9am this Sunday (June 26), with ESPN 4 broadcasting.
Francesco Bagnaia broke the MotoGP lap record at Assen by scoring a second consecutive pole position ahead of leader Fabio Quartararo. The race is scheduled to start at 9am this Sunday (June 26), with ESPN 4 broadcasting.
The Italian had seemed to be losing two or three-tenths of a second to the Yamaha rider for most of the weekend before, and that trend seemed to continue in the race for pole position, as the Ducati rider set the third fastest time in the opening laps and was just over three-tenths behind Jorge Martin and Quartararo.
Bagnaia opted to leave early before the track became too saturated with other riders. Thus, the Italian set a new lap record with 1min21s504, giving him a two-tenths advantage over his closest rivals.
Martin's charge ended with a crash at turn 5 at the start of his last lap, leaving Quartararo as the last man to try to challenge Bagnaia. But he finished 0s116 down, leaving the Ducati rider with his fourth pole of the year.
Martin's earlier effort was enough to keep him on the front row, despite not getting a subsequent lap, with VR46 rookie Marco Bezzecchi managing an impressive fourth place ahead of Aprilia's Aleix Espargaró.
Jack Miller was sixth on the factory Ducati, ahead of Pramac Ducati's Johann Zarco, with Q1 leader and KTM rider Miguel Oliveira eighth. Alex Rins maneuvered the only Suzuki in Q2 to ninth on the grid, while Brad Binder placed the second factory KTM RC16 in tenth.
Check out the grid:
| POS | DRIVER | COUNTRY | TEAM | TIME/DIFF. | LAP | SPEED |
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | 1'31.504s | 6/8 | 309k |
| 2 | Fabio Quartararo | 0 | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.116s | 7/8 | 303k |
| 3 | Jorge Martin | 0 | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +0.204s | 2/7 | 311k |
| 4 | Marco Bezzecchi | 0 | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)* | +0.292s | 6/9 | 311k |
| 5 | Aleix Espargaro | 0 | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.364s | 6/8 | 307k |
| 6 | Jack Miller | 0 | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +0.620s | 3/8 | 308k |
| 7 | Johann Zarco | 0 | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +0.671s | 6/8 | 309k |
| 8 | Miguel Oliveira | 0 | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.768s | 6/8 | 305k |
| 9 | Alex Rins | 0 | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.803s | 7/8 | 304k |
| 10 | Brad Binder | 0 | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.863s | 7/8 | 304k |
| 11 | Maverick Viñales | 0 | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.920s | 7/8 | 307k |
| 12 | Takaaki Nakagami | 0 | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +1.463s | 3/8 | 302k |
| Q1: | ||||||
| 13 | Luca Marini | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) | 1'32.787s | 8/9 | 303k |
| 14 | Joan Mir | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | 1'32.898s | 3/9 | 304k |
| 15 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21)* | 1'32.912s | 8/9 | 304k |
| 16 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21) | 1'33.005s | 6/6 | 310k |
| 17 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1) | 1'33.009s | 3/9 | 304k |
| 18 | Stefan Bradl | GER | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | 1'33.029s | 7/9 | 308k |
| 19 | Remy Gardner | AUS | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | 1'33.093s | 2/8 | 305k |
| 20 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | 1'33.096s | 7/8 | 299k |
| 21 | Alex Marquez | SPA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | 1'33.113s | 3/9 | 305k |
| 22 | Lorenzo Savadori | ITA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | 1'33.467s | 6/8 | 302k |
| 23 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | 1'33.652s | 8/8 | 306k |
| 24 | Darryn Binder | RSA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)* | 1'33.998s | 7/9 | 301k |