In the Petronas Yamaha box, two poles are starting to emerge. The candor and freshness of the beginning of the adventure, where it seemed certain that Franco Morbidelli would play the leaders and Quartararo the apprentices, are beginning to give way to two camps. One wondering about the reasons for the success of the other. Ninth at the end of qualifying while his teammate took a pole position accompanied by the track record, Franco Morbidelli wants answers.
He is Moto2 World Champion, he has a Yamaha with 500 more engine revs, but he is being run around by his teammate who is new to just one victory in Moto2. So goes the Petronas Yamaha duo composed of Franco Morbidelli and fabio quartararo. The latter is now at one podium and three leading positions, including two consecutive.
A euphoria that the protégé of the VR46 Academy does not know. And the fact that the master Red being also in difficulty does not really console him: “ I am too far from Fabio and Viñales” admitted Morbidely. " I need to understand why as soon as possible to close the gap ". Which is still more than a second…
« I am not satisfied. This morning I was fast in the timed lap, but I was in difficulty this afternoon. During FP4, I performed quite well, I followed the two Ducatis and managed to keep up with their pace well. In qualifying, I couldn't be very fast. I struggle in fast corners when pushing. The bike is not as stable as I would like. In FP3 and FP4 it seemed to get better, but these problems came back, I don't know if the heat affects ».
Ramón Forcada, its chief engineer, therefore has work to do. “ I have no response. If I had it, I would be ahead of Fabio. If I am able to have a good start and a consistent race, I will be able to fight for fifth or sixth place ". A prognosis with an air of resignation.
MotoGP Assen J2: times
| 1 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'32.017 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'32.157 | 0.140 | 0.140 |
| 3 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'32.458 | 0.441 | 0.301 |
| 4 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | 1'32.731 | 0.714 | 0.273 |
| 5 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1'33.085 | 1.068 | 0.354 |
| 6 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'33.228 | 1.211 | 0.143 |
| 7 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'33.282 | 1.265 | 0.054 |
| 8 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'33.295 | 1.278 | 0.013 |
| 9 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'33.314 | 1.297 | 0.019 |
| 10 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'33.323 | 1.306 | 0.009 |
| 11 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'33.692 | 1.675 | 0.369 |
| 12 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | 1'33.762 | 1.745 | 0.070 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'32.710 | ||
| Q2 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | 1'33.170 | 0.460 | 0.460 |
| 13 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1'33.221 | 0.511 | 0.051 |
| 14 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'33.466 | 0.756 | 0.245 |
| 15 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | 1'33.547 | 0.837 | 0.081 |
| 16 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'33.583 | 0.873 | 0.036 |
| 17 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'33.706 | 0.996 | 0.123 |
| 18 | 5 | johann zarco | KTM | 1'33.776 | 1.066 | 0.070 |
| 19 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | 1'33.869 | 1.159 | 0.093 |
| 20 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 1'33.960 | 1.250 | 0.091 |
| 21 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'34.580 | 1.870 | 0.620 |
