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Assen MotoGP: Marquez secures pole, Rossi third after FP4 crash

Marc Marquez secured pole position for the Dutch TT at Assen ahead of fellow Honda MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow, while Valentino Rossi rebounded from an FP4 crash to start third

Marquez led the opening runs in Q2 aboard his works RC213V with a time of 1m33.330s, marginally quicker than his best time in third practice earlier in the day.

That time was beaten by Jorge Lorenzo, who posted a 1m33.167s aboard his Ducati, and then again by Suzuki's Andrea Iannone on a 1m33.120s as the 15-minute shootout entered its final stages.

Running in the slipstream of Johann Zarco's Tech3 Yamaha, Marquez logged a 1m32.791s to regain his place on top of the timesheets as the chequered flag fell to claim only his second pole of 2018 and his first at the Dutch TT track.

With many riders running together in a group for their last runs, a huge reshuffled occurred behind.

Crutchlow moved up to second on his final flyer, just 0.041 seconds behind, while Rossi - languishing down in ninth after the first runs - vaulted to third, merely 0.018s back.

Andrea Dovizioso was the quickest of the Ducatis in fourth place, followed by Alex Rins - who made it out of Q1 on his Suzuki - and Friday pacesetter Maverick Vinales on the second factory Yamaha.

Aleix Espargaro, another rider to crash in FP4, took a strong seventh for Aprilia ahead of Zarco, who topped Q1 ahead of Rins.

Iannone and Lorenzo were demoted to ninth and 10th places, with just 0.376s covering the top 10.

Danilo Petrucci and Alvaro Bautista completed the Q2 order.

After failing to qualify directly to Q2 for the first time this year, Zarco appeared set to be eliminated in the first qualifying segment after coming in third behind Jack Miller and Rins in the opening runs.

But a last-minute effort of 1m33.578s as the chequered flag allowed Zarco to advance, 0.022s ahead of Rins - pushing LCR's Takaaki Nakagami down from second to third at the death.

Nakagami will start from 13th on Sunday ahead of Tito Rabat and the second Tech3 bike of Hafizh Syahrin, who set identical times.

Millerwas pushed down to sixth in the closing stages, and will line up 16th ahead of Scott Redding and Dani Pedrosa, who endured yet another difficult qualifying session.

KTM also had a session to forget, with Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro set to line up 20th and 21st.

Starting grid

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m32.791s -
2 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m32.832s 0.041s
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m32.850s 0.059s
4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m32.870s 0.079s
5 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1m32.933s 0.142s
6 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m32.984s 0.193s
7 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1m33.029s 0.238s
8 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m33.072s 0.281s
9 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 1m33.120s 0.329s
10 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 1m33.167s 0.376s
11 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m33.292s 0.501s
12 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m34.015s 1.224s
13 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1m33.625s -
14 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m33.666s -
15 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m33.666s -
16 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m33.672s -
17 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia 1m33.995s -
18 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m34.125s -
19 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m34.145s -
20 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 1m34.149s -
21 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 1m34.268s -
22 Thomas Luthi MVDS Honda Honda 1m35.192s -
23 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m35.646s -


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