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MotoGP: Quartararo makes it two poles in a row at Assen GP, Rossi only P14

29/06/2019

Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Fabio Quartararo took MotoGP Assen GP pole with Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales second and Suzuki’s Alex Rins third.

Q1:

The start of the first qualifying session in Assen MotoGP did not go well for Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi with the Italian only fifth after the first round as Suzuki’s Alex Rins led Pramac Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia in the fight to make it into Q2.

Post their final runs, Rins made it through at ease with a best of 1m32.710s. With Rins, it was KTM’s Pol Espargaro (1m33.170s), who made it into Q2 after he beat Bagnaia (1m33.221s) with Rossi (1m33.336s) only 14th for the Assen GP on Sunday.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro (1m33.547s) slotted in 15th with Avintia Ducati’s Karel Abraham (1m33.583s) improving to 16th on his final lap, pushing Tech 3 KTM’s Miguel Oliveira (1m33.706s) to 17th with KTM’s Johann Zarco (1m33.776s) only 18th after a crash.

The remaining spots were filled by Tech 3 KTM’s Hafizh Syahrin (1m33.869s) in 19th ahead of Aprilia’s Andrea Iannone (1m33.960s) and Avintia Ducati’s Tito Rabat (1m34.580s).

Q2:

The second session started with Rins again leading the charge with provisional pole ahead of Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Fabio Quatararo and Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales as Honda’s Marc Marquez slotted in fourth, with the Ducati riders nowhere in the picture.

Things intensified towards the end of the session in the fight for pole as Vinales snatched provisional top spot from Quartararo but the Frenchman fought back with a record breaking 1m32.017s lap to score a back-to-back MotoGP pole in Assen GP.

It is his third MotoGP pole of the season as he became the youngest ever rider to secure a back-to-back pole. It was a Yamaha 1-2 with Vinales (1m32.157s) in second and Rins (1m32.458s) had to settle with third despite an improvement on his final lap.

Points leader Marquez (1m32.731s) could only manage a fourth place finish after the Spaniard had to make another giant save in the right-hander. Behind, Joan Mir (1m33.085s) made it two Suzuki in the Top 5.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow (1m33.228s), meanwhile, was sixth with the lead Ducati of Danilo Petrucci (1m33.282s) in seventh from LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami (1m33.295s) and Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Franco Morbidelli (1m33.314s).

It was disaster for Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso (1m33.692s) to be only 11th behind Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller (1m33.323s) and KTM’s Espargaro (1m33.762s) as the Italian manufacturer did not have a good run.