One week after his 21st place in qualifying and his last place at the Sachsenring in his worst MotoGP weekend, Vinales has been in sovereign form at the run in Assen so far, leading all three practice sessions and advancing straight into Q2.
The forecast rain for FP3 did not materialize on Saturday morning, which firmly opened the door to improvements in the combined sequence in the decision on the direct Q2 participants for qualifying.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was the first major climber in the combined mandate. The Spaniard shot in a time of 1: 33.442 minutes to move up from seventh to fourth and take the lead in the session.
There were numerous improvements over the combined order in the first 10 minutes of the 45 minute session, although Vinales’ 1.33,072 minutes from Friday was unaffected.
Vinales, who said on Friday that he had not copied the settings of his teammate, as he said after his sad German GP, advanced the goal posts with 1: 32.848 minutes 25 minutes before the end.
The Yamaha rider improved this to 1: 32.686 minutes on his next lap, before team-mate Quartararo was ahead with 1: 32.597 minutes.
With just over 11 minutes to go, Vinales returned to the top of the rankings with 1: 32.336 minutes, while World Champion Joan Mir on the Suzuki jumped into third place.
Vinales was unbeatable with 1: 32.336 minutes and kept him at the top of the overall standings, with 1: 32.533 minutes too late for championship leader Quartararo, who consolidated second place.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Hondas Pol Espargaro enjoyed a strong weekend on his RC213V in Assen, testing new chassis team-mate Marquez, who was fielded on Friday.
The Spaniard relaxed with 1: 32.641 minutes in Q2 and is third in FP3 ahead of his brother Aleix, who rides on Aprilia.
Both Suzuki drivers showed an encouraging one-lap pace in FP3, with Mir and team-mate Alex Rins finishing fifth and sixth and safely in Q2 at the end of the morning session.
Takaaki Nakagami had canceled numerous laps due to violations of the track restrictions, but after his death drove with a time of 1: 32.853 minutes on his LRC Honda to seventh place and into Q2 ahead of Miguel Oliveira from KTM.
Valentino Rossi will make his fourth appearance in Q2 after finishing FP3 in ninth place on his Petronas SRT Yamaha, with Jack Miller being the only Ducati in Q2 to finish 10th in just 0.031 seconds.
Miller’s entry into Q2 was at the expense of Pramacs Johann Zarco, with a costly early fall that left him on 11th
Martin was on course to enter Q2 with a strong lap at the end, but was stopped in the last sector by Enea Bastianini’s Avintia Ducati.
Factory Honda rider Marquez came out on Saturday sore and injured from his bad fall in FP2 on Friday and has to go through Q1 after finishing FP3 in 15th place in the combined times ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder.
Franco Morbidelli’s injury substitute Garrett Gerloff was the last one after a late fall on his SRT Yamaha.
Dutch MotoGP Grand Prix – FP3 Results