MotoGP Assen Race Review

The build up to Assen was dominated by off the track news. The rumour mill suggesting Pramac was considering a deal to move from Ducati to Yamaha was confirmed. A seven year agreement with full factory bikes leaving Ducati with six bikes on the grid for 2025 and Yamaha with four. Something that will hopefully bring the whole field closer together. Ducati are yet to confirm whether Gresini or the VR46 teams would take 2025 spec bikes as it was expected Pramac would.

Rider wise, the fallout from Ducati signing Marc Marquez continued as Marco Bezzecchi jumped ship to join Jorge Martin on a factory Aprilia. Shortly after the Assen race finished Alex Marquez became the first rider to commit to a satellite Ducati, re-signing with Gresini. Only two factory rides remain with spots at Yamaha and Honda still open.

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Qualifying

Throughout every practice and qualifying Bagnaia looked impressive. Setting the fastest time in each session and even leaving time Q2 for others to beat his last flying lap time. Jorge Martin nearly did exactly that, missing out on pole by under a tenth of a second.

The practice times of Raul Fernandez snuck him straight into Q2 with rookie Acosta and the two VR46 Ducati’s being the most notable participants in Q1. Acosta and Di Giannantonio did manage to get through to Q2.

Maverick Vinales completed the front row alongside Bagnaia and Martin. A massive crash at the end of Q2 cost Marc Marquez his final lap and left him seventh. Enea Bastinanini, ousted by Marc Marquez on the factory Ducati for 2025 could only manage eleventh in another disappointing qualifying performance.

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Sprint race

From the start of the sprint Bagnaia looked untouchable. Launching away from the grid and controlling the pace from start to finish in an uneventful win. Jorge Martin followed his every wheel turn, but had to settle for a solid second place finish.

Lap two saw its first casualty with Marc Marquez clipping the inside of the curb on turn two and losing the front end in a slow but race ending crash. Lap four was the end of the race for Marini with a smoking engine and Savadori with a crash that left him unable to race on Sunday.

Bastinanini continued his strong race performances making his way through the field for a fourth place finish. Jack Miller made a good initial start only to fall back down the field as has been the norm for him this season. His teammate Brad Binder put in a strong performance finishing sixth. The other KTM that has performed well this season is Acosta. He struggled all weekend and made little impact on the race finishing in tenth.

Quartararo finished seventh having fought forward from thirteenth on the grid. The last action of a rather uneventful race by MotoGP standards was a lap twelve crash by Alexis Espargaro that ended his weekend. Not only that, participation in future rounds are in doubt as he recovers.

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Race

The race started with a horrible crash for Alex Rins, a high side in turn one launching Rins airbourne. Bagnaia pulled away from the grid ahead of everyone, closely followed by Vinales and Martin. Martin quickly took Vinales and then held off the initial challenge.

In terms of the lead, the masterclass of Bagnaia continued with Martin closely following in his tyre tracks. No-one came close to either rider throughout the race as both managed their pace to the end and left Assen with Martin’s championship lead down to only ten points.

Behind the top two the rest of the field battled back and forth for the spoils. Pedro Acosta quickly made his way up to fifth on the third lap. With that being the lap that Luca Marini effectively ended his weekend with another mistake to take him to the back of the pack in a race on his own. Marco Bezzecchi celebrated his move to Aprilia with a crash that also ended his race and ended a disappointing weekend. Acosta’s run ended with a fast crash from seventh place on the last lap all on his own.

The last podium place was fought out between a charging Bastianini, Di Giannantonio, Vinales and Marc Marquez. Marquez appeared to lift off a couple of times mid-race to allow bikes behind to overtake, seemingly managing a low tyre pressure. After the race it was confirmed that due to a tyre pressure issue Marc Marquez was given an eighteen second penalty.

It was Bastianini who had another strong race behind the front two. Making his way through the field up to a podium finish. After Marc Marquez’s penalty Di Giannantonio was promoted to fourth, Vinales lost pace at the end and finished fifth with Binder sixth. Raul Fernandez completed a strong weekend with an eighth place finish. Vinales had crossed the finish line ahead of Di Giannantonio but was adjudged to have cut the last chicane by the smallest of margins, and was dropped a position post race.

The World Championship see’s Martin with a ten point lead to Bagnaia in second. Third place is currently held by Marc Marquez forty-eight points behind Bagnaia. Fourth is Bastianini just six points back from Marquez. Vinales is the first non-Ducati in the standings in fifth with rookie Acosta behind as the leading KTM. The top Yamaha is Quartararo in fourteenth, with Honda’s top rider being Joan Mir in eighteenth place with just thirteen points. 

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