MotoGP Dutch GP: Fabio Quartararo takes fourth pole in…

Fabio Quartararo delivered the return to form he promised ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, scorching to a fourth MotoGP pole position of the year at Assen on Saturday.

Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez join the Frenchman on the front row of the grid for the MotoGP classic, with world championship leader Marc Marquez only fourth.

Yamaha rider Quartararo’s display was a repeat of his pole performances at Jerez, Le Mans and Silverstone earlier in the season. These were followed by struggles in the most recent two races, Aragon and Italy, but he put those firmly behind him at Assen, where he had already shown consistent speed by topping Friday afternoon practice and Saturday morning practice.

Behind Bagnaia’s factory Ducati and Alex Marquez’s Gresini Ducati, Marc Marquez’s fourth place followed a pair of bruising falls on Friday. The factory Ducati man appeared to be riding in some discomfort around the high-speed Drenthe circuit.

British GP winner Marco Bezzecchi will join Marc on the second row for Aprilia, with VR46 Ducati rider Franco Morbidelli completing it.

Earlier, Raul Fernandez kept up his recent upturn in form by topping Q1 aboard the Trackhouse Aprilia.

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images)

His fortunes again contrasted with those of his team-mate Ai Ogura, the rookie who made him look sluggish early in the season. Ogura crashed early in the session and although he was able to resume, he could not find any pace and will line up 20th on the grid.

The other rider to progress from Q1 was Fernandez’s fellow Spaniard Fermin Aldeguer. The rookie was down in ninth place after the first runs, but emerged early for his second set of flying laps and began to show his pace. Aldeguer saw off challenges from Joan Mir (Honda) and Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) to claim the second spot to reach Q2.

Aldeguer took advantage to then claim seventh on the grid, where he will lead row three with Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46) and Pedro Acosta (KTM) for company.

KTM failed to deliver the qualifying result it had hoped for, with Maverick Vinales only 10th on the Tech3 entry. He’ll be joined on row four by Fernandez and Johann Zarco, the best of the Hondas on the LCR machine.

Aprilia’s development rider Lorenzo Savadori will start the Dutch round unusually high on the grid. A lap 0.375s off the pace in Q1 was enough to earn the Italian a spot on row five: he’ll start 15th behind Mir and Miller.

After qualifying, news came through that Tech3 KTM rider Enea Bastianini had been issued with a penalty after he blocked Alex Rins (Yamaha) during Q1. The Italian has been given a three-place grid penalty for the grand prix, meaning he will start the Sunday race 20th instead of 17th.

Rins himself was 19th-fastest on the qualifying timesheets. His gestures on the circuit following the incident left Bastianini in no doubt as to his views on the KTM man’s track behaviour.

MotoGP Dutch GP - Qualifying results

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	8	1'30.651		180.375
2	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	8	+0.028 1'30.679	0.028	180.319
3	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	9	+0.160 1'30.811	0.132	180.057
4	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	8	+0.220 1'30.871	0.060	179.938
5	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	9	+0.409 1'31.060	0.189	179.565
6	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	9	+0.519 1'31.170	0.110	179.348
7	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	8	+0.635 1'31.286	0.116	179.120
8	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	8	+0.678 1'31.329	0.043	179.036
9	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	9	+0.703 1'31.354	0.025	178.987
10	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	7	+0.814 1'31.465	0.111	178.770
11	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	8	+0.867 1'31.518	0.053	178.666
12	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	9	+0.996 1'31.647	0.129	178.415
View full results

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	8	1'31.517		178.668	309
2	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	8	+0.040 1'31.557	0.040	178.590	306
3	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	8	+0.044 1'31.561	0.004	178.582	307
4	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	8	+0.187 1'31.704	0.143	178.304	302
5	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	8	+0.375 1'31.892	0.188	177.939	308
6	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	8	+0.412 1'31.929	0.037	177.867	312
7	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	8	+0.436 1'31.953	0.024	177.821	307
8	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	8	+0.455 1'31.972	0.019	177.784	300
9	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	8	+0.516 1'32.033	0.061	177.666	302
10	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	6	+0.563 1'32.080	0.047	177.576	304
11	A. Espargaro Honda HRC	41	Honda	8	+1.030 1'32.547	0.467	176.679	305
12	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	8	+1.891 1'33.408	0.861	175.051	306
View full results