Jack Miller led the first free practice for the Dutch GP this morning. The Ducati rider was in command for much of the session in wet conditions, on a track in Assen where he made his MotoGP debut in 2016 in a race that had a lot of water.
With rain and lots of water on the track, as well as some fog, the leader after the first few laps were Miller ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha). Meanwhile, Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) was the first to crash at turn one.
The times continued to drop and Quartararo made it to the top but was overtaken by Miller. The Australian was steadily improving and was even first into the 1’44s before his first pit stop. At that point, towards the end of the first quarter of an hour, he was 1.333s clear of Quartararo.
Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) was also showing good indications and was third, ahead of Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac/Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati). The second crash was for Enea Bastianini (Gresini/Ducati) also at turn one at Assen, which was proving particularly tricky.
With just under 27 minutes remaining, Zarco – who was one of the few remaining riders on track – moved up to second, improving shortly after to place 0.047s off Miller. Within the final quarter of an hour, Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) was third at 1,044s off the leader. The Spaniard was not overtaken long after by Bagnaia, who was less than a second off Miller.
A change of leader with eight minutes remaining, with Bagnaia 0.215s faster than Miller. Times were more even at this stage thanks to a number of improvements, but still the top five, closed by Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati), fit by 0.790s.
Track conditions were improving and with them the lap times. Viñales dethroned Bagnaia by 0.180s. The Italian immediately overtook his rival, but both were overtaken by Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda) who became the new leader. Miller then retook the lead and was 0.351s faster than his Honda rival.
Zarco got within 0.349s of the Australian, but with three minutes remaining, Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) did even better at 47 thousandths off the lead. With times dropping consecutively, this was a stage where the lead changed hands several times.
Pol Espargaro was back in front of 0.160s ahead of Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), but many riders had better times on their laps. One of them was Miller, who was right back on top. Until the end, the Australian was no longer beaten, finishing as leader with the best time of 1’42.589s.
Second was Mir at 0.109s, with Pol Espargaro surprisingly third ahead of Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) completing the top five ahead of Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM). Championship leader Quartararo was 16th at 1.659s off the top.
©DORNA, 2022