Moto3 Assen FP1: Foggia in front with falls and Darryn Binder in redemption

Moto3 arrives in the Netherlands directly from Germany where Pedro Acosta won for the fourth time in his rookie season in the category. He thus became the first rookie to achieve four victories since Maverick Viñales in 2011. The last time a driver achieved four victories in a season was Lorenzo Dalla Porta in 2019, when he took the title after 19 races.

Acosta also leads the championship with a lead of 55 points on Sergio Garcia, which is the biggest margin after the first eight Moto3 races since 2015, when Danny Kent had 165 points and Enea Bastianini 108. A performance that the Ajo KTM rider also owes to his consistency. Indeed, only two riders have scored in all eight Moto3 races in 2021: Acosta et Roman Fenati.

With third place in Foggia at the Sachsenring, this is the 39th Moto3 race in a row with at least one Honda on the podium, which equals the record in the category established by the Japanese manufacturer from Qatar/2014 to Americas/2016.

The eight Moto3 races held at Assen were won by eight riders: Maverick Vinales, Luis Salom, Alex Marquez, Miguel Oliveira, Francesco Bagnaia, Aron Canet, Jorge Martin and Lorenzo Dalla Porta. None of the current Moto3 riders have won in Holland. However, Andrea Migno third in 2016, Roman Fenati second in 2017 and John mcphee third in 2017 reached the category podium on this circuit.

Of the eight Moto3 races that have taken place at Assen so far, only George Martin in 2018 won the race after qualifying on pole. Niccolo Antonelli is the only current Moto3 rider to have qualified on pole at the Dutch TT.

What will this edition of the Dutch Grand Prix in Assen have in store for us? Before starting to answer this question with this FP1, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far…

Assen Moto3™	2019	2021 (New asphalt)
FP1	1'42.738 Ai Ogura	1'41.748 Dennis Foggia
FP2	1'41.782 Jakub Kornfeil
FP3	1'41.554 Tony Arbolino
QP1	1'41.652 Lorenzo Dalla Porta
QP2	1'41.232 Niccolò Antonelli
warm up	1'42.566 Arón Canet1'42.275 Tony Arbolino
Course	Arbolino, Dalla Porta, Korfeil
All time lap record	1'41.232 Niccolò Antonelli (2019)

17.2° in the air and 20.6° on the track are the conditions proposed to the pilots for the 40 minutes of exercise under an overcast but not threatening sky.

Before hostilities begin, it is once again, as in Germany, Tech3 which brings bad news... Sasaki is still not fit to return to competition after his big failure in Catalonia.

Rodrigo begins its Dutch meeting with a fall at turn 1. Meanwhile, the first reference is signed by Masia in 1'43.009, which is already a very good time which reveals all the benefits brought by the new surface of the Assen track . Besides Suzuki clocked a 1'42.542 after the first quarter of an hour.

Migno fall at turn 7. Darryn Binder, McPhee, fenati et Tuff complete the first top 5. Lorenzo Fellon is currently 21st. He falls at turn 9. Nepa falls at turn 5. He is third.

farmhouse, for his part, narrowly escaped…

The last quarter of an hour begins with a rise in Foggia in second row. Suzuki is now in 1'42.403. farmhouse ended up falling and it was at turn 9. He had a big high-side and hit the curb... After treatment at the side of the track, he reassured everyone by getting up.

Under the checkered flag, it's Dennis Foggia who took the lead in 1'41.748. He is ahead Darryn Binder which accompanies him under the bar of 1'42 per lap. A border not crossed by Migno, Fenati et Rodrigo which closes the top 5 at Antonelli et Pedro Acosta. Lorenzo Fellon is 18th.

FP1 ranking of Grand Prix Moto3 from the Netherlands to TT Assen: 

Classification credit: MotoGP.com