Assen MotoGP: Vinales leads Quartararo as Marc Marquez misses Q2 spots

A week after qualifying 21st and finishing last at the Sachsenring in his worst-ever MotoGP weekend, Vinales has been in imperious form across the Assen round so far by topping all three practice sessions and easing straight through to Q2.

The forecasted rain for FP3 didn’t materialise on Saturday morning, firmly opening the door for improvements to be made on the combined order in deciding the direct Q2 entrants for qualifying.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was the first significant mover on the combined order, the Spaniard firing in a 1m33.442s to move up from seventh to fourth and go to top spot in the session.

Improvements on the combined order were numerous in the opening 10 minutes of the 45-minute session, though Vinales’ 1m33.072s from Friday remained untouched.

However, Vinales – who said on Friday he didn’t copy his team-mate’s settings as he said he would following his woeful German GP – moved the goalposts with 25 minutes to go with a 1m32.848s.

The Yamaha rider bettered this on his next lap to a 1m32.686s, before team-mate Quartararo edged ahead with a 1m32.597s.

With just over 11 minutes remaining, Vinales returned to the top of the order with a 1m32.336s, while world champion Joan Mir on the Suzuki leaped up to third behind him.

Vinales’s 1m32.336s wouldn’t be bettered through to the chequered flag and kept him on top of the standings, with a 1m32.533s late on for championship leader Quartararo cementing second.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Honda’s Pol Espargaro has enjoyed a strong weekend on his RC213V at Assen and trialled the new chassis team-mate Marquez used on Friday.

The Spaniard has eased into Q2 with a 1m32.641s putting him third in FP3 ahead of Aprilia-mounted brother Aleix.

Both Suzuki riders showed encouraging one-lap pace on FP3, with Mir and team-mate Alex Rins fifth and sixth and safely into Q2 at the end of the morning session.

Takaaki Nakagami had numerous laps deleted for track limits violations, but hooked up a 1m32.853s at the death to jump up to seventh and into Q2 on his LRC Honda ahead of KTM’s Miguel Oliveira.

Valentino Rossi will make his fourth appearance in Q2 after ending FP3 ninth on his Petronas SRT Yamaha, with Jack Miller the only Ducati in Q2 currently after sneaking into 10th by just 0.031 seconds.

Miller’s entry to Q2 came at the expense of Pramac’s Johann Zarco, with a costly early crash leaving him in 11th ahead of Francesco Bagnaia on the other works team Ducati and the sister Pramac bike of Jorge Martin.

Martin was on course to get into Q2 with a strong lap at the end, but was baulked by the Avintia Ducati of Enea Bastianini in the final sector.

Factory Honda rider Marquez came into Saturday battered and bruised from his heavy crash in FP2 on Friday and will have to go through Q1 having ended FP3 15th on the combined times ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder.

Franco Morbidelli’s injury stand-in Garrett Gerloff was last again after a late crash on his SRT Yamaha.

MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix - FP3 results

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	23	1'32.336
2	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	21	1'32.533	0.197
3	Pol Espargaro	Honda	21	1'32.641	0.305
4	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	19	1'32.747	0.411
5	Joan Mir	Suzuki	21	1'32.748	0.412
6	Alex Rins	Suzuki	23	1'32.845	0.509
7	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	20	1'32.853	0.517
8	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	20	1'32.871	0.535
9	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	19	1'32.894	0.558
10	Jack Miller	Ducati	20	1'32.907	0.571
11	Johann Zarco	Ducati	16	1'32.938	0.602
12	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	22	1'32.941	0.605
13	Jorge Martin	Ducati	19	1'32.974	0.638
14	Danilo Petrucci	KTM	20	1'33.026	0.690
15	Marc Marquez	Honda	18	1'33.069	0.733
16	Brad Binder	KTM	22	1'33.087	0.751
17	Alex Marquez	Honda	21	1'33.250	0.914
18	Iker Lecuona	KTM	18	1'33.356	1.020
19	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	18	1'33.368	1.032
20	Luca Marini	Ducati	21	1'33.465	1.129
21	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	22	1'33.853	1.517
22	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	21	1'34.254	1.918
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