This concludes our live coverage of the Assen Sprint race. Stay tuned to GPone.com for the statements of the protagonists and don’t forget our usual appointment with the Bar Sport!
15:37 – With today’s victory, Bagnaia recovers a few points on Martin, moving to 15 points from the championship leader, while Marc Marquez sees his latecomer rise from the top to 44 points. Here is the standings situation:
15:33 – Bagnaia makes no mistakes at Assen and wins his second consecutive Sprint Race, resisting the pressure of Jorge Martin for all 13 laps of the race, 2nd at 2″3 from the winner. Maverick Vinales completes the podium of the first race of the Dutch weekend, the only Aprilia Racing team rider to finish after his teammate Aleix Espargarò’s crash on the last lap, who ended up on the ground at Turn 15.
Marc Marquez’s race lasted significantly less, forced to say goodbye to the company already on the second lap of the race due to a fall in Turn 2, when he was occupying fifth position. Great race by Enea Bastianini, comeback to fourth, followed by Fabio Di Giannantonio, Brad Binder, Fabio Quartararo and Alex Marquez, in eighth position despite having received a three-second penalty for not having served the Long Lap Penalty on the last lap. Ninth place for Franco Morbidelli, who took the last point up for grabs ahead of Pedro Aacosta and Marco Bezzecchi.
CHECKERED FLAG – Bagnaia wins the Assen Sprint followed by Martin and Vinales. Aleix Espargarò crashes at the third-to-last corner. The Aprilia rider is fine, but seems to have a sore wrist.
LAST LAP – Alex Marquez doesn’t stop to serve the penalty, but he still loses a lot of positions due to a small mistake that opens the doors to Di Giannantonio, Brad Binder and Aleix Espargarò.
LAP 12 – Alex Marquez was also given a Long Lap, hunted by Brad Binder and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
LAP 11 – While the top positions remain frozen, Raul Fernandez receives a Long Lap penalty for exceeding the track limits.
LAP 10 – With four laps to go, Bagnaia, who has received a warning in the meantime, continues to increase his lead over Martin to 1″4. Vinales follows at over 1″5, with an unleashed Bastinaini behind him, who has taken fourth place from Alex Marquez, now 10th ahead of Binder and Di Giannantonio.
LAP 9 – Bastianini slips past Binder and sets off in pursuit of Alex Marquez, who is in fourth place, 2″ behind Vinales. Rins crashes, who was in a dismal 16th place behind Raul Fernandez.
LAP 8 – Bagnaia continues to hammer away at the front of the race, extending his lead over Martin to more than a second. Meanwhile, there is a big tussle between Bastianini and Binder for sixth place.
LAP 7 – Bastianini closes in on Binder.
LAP 6 – Bagnaia increases the gap, putting over 6 tenths between himself and Martin, while Bastianini snatches sixth place from Espargarò and starts chasing Binder, fifth behind Aalex Marquez and Vinales. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Savadori, wild card with Aprilia, crashed.
LAP 5 – Technical problem for Marini, forced to bring his Honda back to the pits.
LAP 4 – Brad Binder threatens behind Alex Marquez, while Bastianini threatens Aleix Espargaro for sixth position. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez returns to the pits after his crash on the second lap.
LAP 3 – The gap between Martin and Vinales increases, who seems to be struggling to keep up with the Ducatis.
LAP 2 – Bagnaia takes the edge over Martin, who in the meantime tries to shake off Alex Marquez. Marc was unable to rejoin the race and his race ended after just one lap and one corner. Here is the ranking situation:
GIRO 2 – Plot twist! Marc Marquez crashwhich ends up in the gravel at Turn 2.
GO! – Bagnaia immediately takes command of the operations followed by Martin and Alex Marquez, who overtook Vinales in turn 1. Fifth Marc Marquez, followed by Brad Binder and Aleix Espargaro, eighth Morbidelli, then Batianini and Quartararo, who close the Top 10. Bad departure for Di Giannantonio, 12th.
3.00pm – The Warm Up tour starts!
2.57pm – The mechanics are starting to leave the grid at Assen, where the warm-up lap will start shortly.
14:54 – Choices justified by the temperature of 49ºC recorded on the asphalt, while 24ºC is the air temperature on this sunny Dutch Saturday.
14:50 – As for the tires chosen for the Sprint, according to the information from the live timin, all the riders opted for the soft rear except Zarco, who chose the medium. On the front, however, they all opted for the hard tire, except Rins, Zarco, Mir and Nakagami with the medium.
14:48 – Next to the reigning champion will be the championship leader Jorge Martin, with Maverick Vinales completing the front row. Only seventh is Marc Marquez, who has already accustomed us to great comebacks this year.
2.46pm – With less than fifteen minutes to go until the start of the race, the starting grid is taking shape, with Bagnaia in pole position thanks to the amazing time of 1’30″540 set in Q2. A confirmation of the Piedmontese’s great feeling with the Assen track, where he has won the last two editions of the GP.
2.45pm – Welcome to our live broadcast of the Assen Sprint Race, the eighth MotoGP round of the season.
Qualifying gave pole position and Assen track record to Pecco Bagnaia who has been simply impeccable up to this point, finishing ahead of everyone in every single session. Bagnaia has found an impressive confidence with his Ducati in Holland and he undoubtedly has the pace to try to escape, but as we have already seen often this season, the Sprint is a separate matter from everything else.
On the front row with him there will be Jorge Martìn and Maverick Vinales, both in turn credited with an excellent race pace, while an excellent Alex Marquez will start from the second row, with Aleix Espargarò 5th and Fabio Di Giannantonio 6th after having passed Q1 . Marc Marquez will instead only be seventh on the grid, who however seems to have the pace to recover and aim for the podium. Only a crash in Q2 prevented him from qualifying better. An uphill race instead for Enea Bastianini, 11th on the grid behind Acosta.
Our LIVE coverage of the Sprint Race in Assen will start a few minutes before 3pm, Stay Tuned!
This is the starting grid:
