Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Assen MotoGP: Bautista fastest as Marquez crashes heavily

Alvaro Bautista went quickest at a drying Assen in Friday morning MotoGP practice, as Marc Marquez escaped a huge accident

Marquez was the first rider to try slick tyres in the closing minutes.

The lap seemed to be going well until the approach to the very fast Ramshoek, just after the point where Jorge Lorenzo broke his collarbone on Thursday.

Marquez appeared to hit a damp patch and was thrown into a violent high-side, landing on his shoulders and then being collected by his sliding Honda before tumbling through the gravel.

Despite the ferocity of the crash, Marquez walked away unaided and was confirmed to be shaken but unhurt.

Meanwhile, off-track suggestions that Lorenzo would still attempt to race on Saturday swirled around the paddock, with Yamaha declining to rule the possibility out.

Lorenzo had successful surgery in Barcelona overnight, and is guaranteed a top-12 start if he is passed fit as his practice one time on a dry track held up as the fastest of the weekend so far, getting him into Q2.

On the circuit, Bautista eventually got down to the fastest wet time for Gresini Honda, then made successful use of slicks to set a 1m40.029s as the chequered flag came out.

That lap denied Aspar's Randy de Puniet the chance to top the session on his CRT Aprilia, the Frenchman ending up 0.194 seconds slower.

Two stand-ins were next up: Ben Spies' Pramac substitute Michele Pirro was third on the 'lab' Ducati in an unusual top 10, followed by Avintia's returnee Ivan Silva, deputising for Hiroshi Aoyama.

Marquez was classified fifth with his best wet-tyre time.

Works Ducati riders Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso plus Pramac man Andrea Iannone will all have to get through Q1 in qualifying as they were outside the top 10 in the weekend's sole dry practice session so far.

Pos Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap       Laps
 1. Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m40.029s             17
 2. Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m40.223s  + 0.194s   15
 3. Michele Pirro     Pramac Ducati             1m45.601s  + 5.572s   10
 4. Ivan Silva        Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m46.724s  + 6.695s   17
 5. Marc Marquez      Honda                     1m46.761s  + 6.732s   13
 6. Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m46.981s  + 6.952s    8
 7. Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                    1m47.014s  + 6.985s   13
 8. Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m47.027s  + 6.998s   10
 9. Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m47.055s  + 7.026s   12
10. Karel Abraham     Cardion Aprilia           1m47.782s  + 7.753s   12
11. Yonny Hernandez   PBM Aprilia               1m48.067s  + 8.038s   10
12. Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                    1m48.167s  + 8.138s   11
13. Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati             1m48.396s  + 8.367s   12
14. Claudio Corti     Forward FTR-Kawasaki      1m48.495s  + 8.466s   11
15. Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m48.822s  + 8.793s    9
16. Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m48.976s  + 8.947s   10
17. Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Suter-BMW            1m49.066s  + 9.037s   11
18. Michael Laverty   PBM-Aprilia               1m49.259s  + 9.230s    6
19. Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m49.312s  + 9.283s   12
20. Bryan Staring     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m49.637s  + 9.608s   16
21. Lukas Pesek       Ioda-Suter-BMW            1m50.501s  + 10.472s  13
22. Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m50.830s  + 10.801s   5
23. Colin Edwards     Forward FTR-Kawasaki      1m52.118s  + 12.089s   9

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Rossi admits Lorenzo's injury increases pressure to perform
Next article Assen MotoGP: Cal Crutchlow claims maiden MotoGP pole

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe