Assen MotoGP qualifying
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Nakagami is the first rider to head out for his second run, with six minutes left on the clock.
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Q1 order: 1 Miller; 2 Rins; 3 Zarco; 4 Nakagami; 5 Rabat; 6 Pedrosa; 7 Smith; 8 Syahrin; 9 P Espargaro; 10 Redding; 11 Abraham; 12 Luthi; 13 Simeon.
Zarco and Nakagami in third and fourth are only a tenth off. Pedrosa is sixth, behind Rabat, and needs to find at least a quarter of a second.
They're all improving en masse the second time around. Rins finds a small chunk of time, but Miller goes 0.005s faster.
Stopwatch
It really does not - Alex Rins fires in a 1m34.130s.
Pedrosa's first lap is good enough for ... 11th. Not fantastic.
Pedrosa's first lap is good enough for ... 11th. Not fantastic.
The first flying laps are in, and it's Takaaki Nakagami who leads on a 1m34.717s. But that will not hold for very long.
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Every rider participating has gone out on a brand new soft rear tyre - except for Zarco, the rebel, who's chucked on a used medium.
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Q1 roster: P Espargaro, Zarco, Miller, Rins, Pedrosa, Rabat, Syahrin, Abraham, Smith, Redding, Nakagami, Morbidelli, Luthi, Simeon.
Green flag
Q1 is underway.
Q1 coming up next then, and it should be a serious battle, because there's a fair few riders here who really should be starting among the first four rows.
There's the works Honda of Dani Pedrosa, the works Suzuki of Alex Rins and the Pramac Ducati of Jack Miller. But the biggest name is arguably Tech 3 Yamaha rider Zarco, who we're really not used to seeing around these parts in Q1.
It's worth noting though that, of all the riders to miss out on the Q2 cut-off in FP3, it was actually KTM's Pol Espargaro who came closest, very nearly relegating Andrea Dovizioso to Q1 - so perhaps he could pull off an upset here.
There's the works Honda of Dani Pedrosa, the works Suzuki of Alex Rins and the Pramac Ducati of Jack Miller. But the biggest name is arguably Tech 3 Yamaha rider Zarco, who we're really not used to seeing around these parts in Q1.
It's worth noting though that, of all the riders to miss out on the Q2 cut-off in FP3, it was actually KTM's Pol Espargaro who came closest, very nearly relegating Andrea Dovizioso to Q1 - so perhaps he could pull off an upset here.
Only 23 riders will be participating in today's qualifying, unfortunately, as Marc VDS rookie Franco Morbidelli fractured his middle finger in an FP3 crash: 
Checkered flag
FP4 has wrapped up, with four manufacturers represented in the top four. Marquez leads from Suzuki's Andrea Iannone, Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso and Vinales - who has just done a rather underwhelming practice start.
MotoGP form man Jorge Lorenzo is only 10th, right ahead of Rossi.
MotoGP form man Jorge Lorenzo is only 10th, right ahead of Rossi.
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Assen has been traditionally a Yamaha track, and that's more or less held up this weekend. Maverick Vinales has been a regular presence out front, and Valentino Rossi has been there or thereabout.
But it's Yamaha, so there's always a niggling doubt, and today this doubt comes courtesy of race pace simulations in FP4.
Vinales has looked a bit ragged here, and has had a slow start to the session, although he's since moved up to a creditable fourth.
Rossi's potentially a bigger cause for concern, especially as he's just had a rather fast crash at Turn 7.
But it's Yamaha, so there's always a niggling doubt, and today this doubt comes courtesy of race pace simulations in FP4.
Vinales has looked a bit ragged here, and has had a slow start to the session, although he's since moved up to a creditable fourth.
Rossi's potentially a bigger cause for concern, especially as he's just had a rather fast crash at Turn 7.
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There are three tracks where Marc Marquez has raced a MotoGP bike but has not been on pole.
One's no longer on the calendar – Laguna Seca, where he had the one attempt in 2013, missing out on pole by 0.017s to former Moto2 title rival Stefan Bradl, only to win that race anyway.
The other two are still on the schedule. He'll get another shot at Motegi later in the year – but right now he should have a prime opportunity to check Assen off the list.
Not that the Dutch track has treated him poorly. His race results here are as follows – P2, P1, P2, P2, P3 – and he only missed out on pole by 0.065s last year.
He topped FP3 earlier, so today could indeed be the day. But the top three in that session was split by a ridiculous 0.006s, so Marquez might need a little bit of good fortune.
One's no longer on the calendar – Laguna Seca, where he had the one attempt in 2013, missing out on pole by 0.017s to former Moto2 title rival Stefan Bradl, only to win that race anyway.
The other two are still on the schedule. He'll get another shot at Motegi later in the year – but right now he should have a prime opportunity to check Assen off the list.
Not that the Dutch track has treated him poorly. His race results here are as follows – P2, P1, P2, P2, P3 – and he only missed out on pole by 0.065s last year.
He topped FP3 earlier, so today could indeed be the day. But the top three in that session was split by a ridiculous 0.006s, so Marquez might need a little bit of good fortune.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of qualifying for the 2018 edition of MotoGP's marquee Dutch TT race at Assen.
Qualifying's almost never the most important part of the MotoGP race race weekend, but this one in particular should be worth following going by the recent record,
The Dutch TT has had different pole-sitters in the past eight years, among them four privateers - the late Marco Simoncelli on a Gresini Honda, Cal Crutchlow and Johann Zarco on Tech 3 Yamahas, and Aleix Espargaro on a Forward Yamaha.
Qualifying's almost never the most important part of the MotoGP race race weekend, but this one in particular should be worth following going by the recent record,
The Dutch TT has had different pole-sitters in the past eight years, among them four privateers - the late Marco Simoncelli on a Gresini Honda, Cal Crutchlow and Johann Zarco on Tech 3 Yamahas, and Aleix Espargaro on a Forward Yamaha.
By: Matt Beer
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