MotoGP Dutch GP: Bagnaia smashes lap record to take pole, Marquez crashes

Bagnaia continues his brilliant form in Assen as he grabs pole with a new lap record

World champion Francesco Bagnaia headed Jorge Martin in a tight pole battle at the MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix, as a late crash for Marc Marquez left him seventh.

Bagnaia and standings leader Martin traded all-time Assen lap records at the start of the Q2 session, before the former smashed it with a 1m30.540s with just under six minutes to go.

So good was Bagnaia’s lap that he felt he could bail out of the session early, though Martin put it under threat on his final tour – coming up 0.081 seconds short.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales completed the top three, 0.330s further back, while Alex Marquez heads row two on the first of the Gresini Ducatis as team-mate Marc Marquez crashed late on to end up seventh.

Bagnaia set the tone for the record-breaking Dutch GP qualifying on his first flying lap, setting a 1m31.048s.

But Martin obliterated it with a 1m30.877s seconds later on his first flying lap, and was on course to better it next time around before making a small error at the last corner.

On the first lap of his second run, Bagnaia lit up the timing screens and produced a 1m30.540s to go 0.337s clear of the field at the time.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

With the rest of the pack tripping over each other looking for tows, Bagnaia’s lap came under no threat as the clock ticked down to the chequered flag.

Once Martin got a clear run, though, on his last flying lap he started to put Bagnaia’s lap record under threat.

But he narrowly missed out with a 1m30.621s to secure second, while Vinales leapt up to third on his final effort with a 1m30.951s.

Alex Marquez was fourth on his Gresini Ducati ahead of the second factory Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro and Q1 graduate Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46).

Espargaro was involved in a scuffle with Marc Marquez in the closing stages of Q2.

The Aprilia rider put on a hard move on Marquez for track position at the final chicane, before the latter returned the favour at Turn 7 while pushing on his last lap.

Marquez got through but crashed on the exit, leaving him down in seventh on the grid ahead of Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Brad Binder was the top KTM in ninth ahead of Q1 pacesetter Pedro Acosta – who crashed at the end of the opening qualifying segment - while Ducati’s Enea Bastianini and Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez rounded out the top 12.

Fabio Quartararo was denied a place in Q2 by just over two tenths on his upgraded Yamaha and will start 13th ahead of KTM’s Jack Miller and VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, who took a tumble late on in Q1 at Turn 5.

Johann Zarco was top Honda in 19th for LCR Racing.

MotoGP Dutch GP - Q2 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	7	1'30.540		180.596
2	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	8	+0.081 1'30.621	0.081	180.434
3	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	7	+0.411 1'30.951	0.330	179.780
4	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	8	+0.439 1'30.979	0.028	179.724
5	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	6	+0.537 1'31.077	0.098	179.531
6	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	5	+0.734 1'31.274	0.197	179.144
7	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	6	+0.838 1'31.378	0.104	178.940
8	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	8	+0.865 1'31.405	0.027	178.887
9	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	8	+0.939 1'31.479	0.074	178.742
10	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	7	+0.942 1'31.482	0.003	178.736
11	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	8
12	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	8	+1.388 1'31.928	0.446	177.869
View full results

MotoGP Dutch GP - Q1 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	9	1'31.372		178.951
2	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	9	+0.018 1'31.390	0.018	178.916
3	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	8	+0.248 1'31.620	0.230	178.467
4	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	8	+0.531 1'31.903	0.283	177.918
5	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	6	+0.625 1'31.997	0.094	177.736
6	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	9	+0.736 1'32.108	0.111	177.522
7	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88	Aprilia	9	+0.751 1'32.123	0.015	177.493
8	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	8	+0.871 1'32.243	0.120	177.262
9	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	8	+0.888 1'32.260	0.017	177.229
10	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	9	+1.125 1'32.497	0.237	176.775
11	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	9	+1.255 1'32.627	0.130	176.527
12	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	9	+1.297 1'32.669	0.042	176.447
13	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	9
View full results