Fabio Quartararo took his fourth win of the season and extended his lead at the top of the table.
- Quartararo is now 34 points ahead of closest rival Johann Zarco
- Maverick Vinales finished second and gave the Monster Energy Yamaha team a 1-2 result
- Bagnaia led the first stages but was 6th after a long lap penalty.
The summer break
Yesterday’s MotoGP race at Assen in the Netherlands was a pretty important one. It determined how well most drivers would sleep for the next 5 weeks. Because with the summer break, they have to wait until they can race again.
Race start
Fabio Quartararo will probably sleep the best of all. The Frenchman took another win in Assen, his fourth win of the season. With this he is now expanding his lead in the championship to 34 points over the closest pursuer and compatriot Johann Zarco. Quartararo started from second place on the grid, narrowly passed and almost collided with the poleman and team-mate Maverick Viñales on the run from Turn 1. But Ducati man Francesco Bagnaia got off to an even better start and secured the holeshot, pushing in typical Ducati fashion Quartararo back to 2nd place. The close conversation with Quartararo led Viñales to see what allowed Takaaki Nakagami to get past on his Honda and drop Viñales to 4th place.
This order remained the same for the next laps, because although Quartararo was significantly faster than Bagnaia in front of him, he kept catching up with the Italian on sections of the track that were almost impossible to overtake. And even when Quartararo came by, Bagnaia was able to use the horsepower advantage of his Ducati to regain first place on the home straight. Until he wasn’t.
Quartararo runaways
Quartararo changed his overtaking point to overtake Bagnaia early on lap 6 and then used the rest of the lap to unleash his pace and pull away from the Ducati man. His victory was pretty much signed, sealed, and delivered by then. Viñales was the only man who seemed able to challenge Quartararo’s pace due to the shape of free practice, but he was still stuck in 4th place behind Nakagami.
Quartararo made hay while the sun was shining and drove a few glowing laps to gain an advantage over Bagnaia, who now had his hands full defending his second place from Nakagami and Viñales.
Bagnaia is punished
The defense would prove pointless, as the Ducati rider, desperate to stay in the lead, exceeded the track limit too often, received a long lap penalty and fell back on track. Just as this was happening Viñales finally managed to get past Nakagami and inherited 2nd place when Bagnaia scored his penalty kick. Then he went to hunt Quartararo, but it was too little, too late. Although he was able to keep up and sometimes improve the lap times of the leader, the gap was too big to bridge and Viñales came home in second place to complete a Monster Energy Yamaha 1-2.
Viñales jumps ship
While this is Viñales’ best result since his opening win, it is very unlikely that the Spaniard will sleep well during the summer break. And that’s because he just prematurely terminated his contract with Yamaha. Despite being signed to Yamaha in 2022, the two parties have terminated their contract amicably and Viñales will be leaving the Japanese manufacturer at the end of this season. The grapevine suggests he will make a shock switch to Aprilia – a move that is sure to bring him some sleepless nights in the coming weeks.
The Hondas
After being overtaken by Viñales, Nakagami crashed in the field and eventually finished a disappointing 9th place which will keep him safe even during the summer break. He was the top placed Honda man for most of the race, but that honor eventually went to Marc Marquez, who came home in 7th place. If Marquez is indeed human and in need of things like sleep, he can sleep well knowing he has already taken his first win since his comeback, but at the same time there will likely be insomnia caused by his still imperfect physical condition becomes.
Joan Mir took his 3rd podium of the season with 3rd place in Assen. It was his teammate Alex Rins who many had expected to be in the lead, but an aggressive overtaking maneuver by Johann Zarco at the start of the race knocked Rins off the track, into the gravel and into last place. From there he bravely fought his way back to 11th place, but will definitely wonder what could have been. Zarco himself finished fourth, ahead of top KTM finisher Miguel Oliveira. After receiving his long round penalty, Bagnaia was embroiled in a fierce battle for sixth place with Marquez and Aleix Espargaro, and eventually won that fight ahead of Marquez.