The MotoGP officially begins on the weekend of Dutch Grand Prixwith the first free practice session on the Assen circuit, where it is Francesco Bagnaia to take it home first position. Followed by Marc Márquez in second place and a surprising Raúl Fernández to close the top 3.
Encouraging start for Bagnaia and Márquez, the other Ducatis are struggling
In the first session after the spring break, the fight for Ducati supremacy between Marc Márquez e Francesco Bagnaia picks up where it left off, with the two future teammates setting excellent times throughout the session, demonstrating a pace that is currently unattainable. However, it is the two-time world champion who prevails, following the cancellation of the first half of Fabio by Giannantonio, finished the round at the top of the standings, with a time of 1:32.401. Immediately after him Marc Márquez, who despite several errors and shortcut he managed to place himself in second position, with a final time of 1:32.466, just +0.065 behind Bagnaia.
A limping start instead for Enea Bastianiniwho after a promising first part of the session found himself struggling more than his teammate, ending the session only in 12th position with a time of 1:33.029, behind Marco Bezzecchi in 11th place and Jorge Martinworld leader, in tenth.
KTM behind expectations, Aprilia good
The first round of the weekend marked a breach of expectations with respect to the performance expected by KTM, on the basis of the excellent results of the past weekends: to find the first bike from the Austrian manufacturer in the standings you have to go down to ninth position, with Brad Binder who finished with a time of 1:32.863. After him Pedro Acosta, who with GASGAS colors and fresh from a podium in the Sprint at Mugello, finished in 14th position, thanks to a time of 1:33.283. However, they are at the bottom of the ranking Jack Millerin 17th position, e Augusto Fernandez in 20esima.
Aprilia finds itself in the opposite situation, closing the session with a third place Raul Fernandez on Trackhouse, which proved to be particularly fast on this track with a time of 1:32.466. Same goes for Maverick Vinales (1:32.678) e Aleix Espargaró (1:32.688), who closed the session in fifth and sixth position respectively, despite a small problem at the start for the number #41, who after a report of an engine problem was forced to return to the pits and use the spare bike.
Excellent start too Fabio Quartararowho finished with a time of 1:32.594 and a fourth position, fresh from private tests carried out at Mugello to test new features regarding the engine of his Yamaha. The other Japanese bikes, on the other hand, struggled, with Alex Rins bound in 16th position, TAkaaka Nakamix on Honda LCR in 18th place, Luca Marini to the 19th century Johann Zarco e Joan Mir in 21st and 22nd position respectively at the checkered flag.
Valentina Bossi
