MotoGP Assen Q1 LIVE: Johann Zarco, a fine strategist with nerves of steel, passes with Bagnaia

Article updated until the end of the session.

Assen opens hostilities in Q1 of its Dutch Grand Prix. A decisive deadline which, as during the rest of the season, welcomes the top of the MotoGP basket. Judge for yourself: we have among the squad the latest winner and eight-time world champion Marc Marquez, then the second and fourth in the current championship with Johann Zarco and Bagnaia. However, there will only be two elected officials, and the list presented is not exhaustive…

Therefore, Marc Marquez will certainly not want to leave the spotlight to his teammate Pol Espargaro, in great form since the start of the Batavian meeting, and the two drivers Ducati will undoubtedly be keen to join the leading group in order to be worthy of their position in the title race. But we also find a Petrucci who plays his career with a KTM which will also have Brad Binder.

Alex Marquez, Lecuona, Savadori, Marini, Bastianini, Martin et gerloff the freelancer will also boldly try their luck…

So, what will these drafts have in store for us? Before answering this question, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far…

Assen MotoGP™	2019	2021 (New asphalt)
FP1	1'33.909 Fabio Quartararo (see here)	1'33.072 Maverick Vinales (See here)
FP2	1'32.638 Maverick Viñales (see here)	1'33.241 Maverick Vinales (See here)
FP3	1'32.471 Fabio Quartararo (see here)	1'32.336 Maverick Vinales (See here)
FP4	1'32.952 Fabio Quartararo (see here)	1'32.541 Johann Zarco
QP1	1'32.710 Alex Rins (see here)
QP2	1'32.017 Fabio Quartararo (see here)
Warm Up	1'33.939 Marc Márquez (see here)
Course	Vinales, Marquez, Quartararo (see here)
All time lap record	1'32.017 Fabio Quartararo (2019) (see here)

26.6° in the air and 36.6° on the track under an overcast but hardly threatening sky are the conditions offered to the pilots for the fateful quarter of an hour.

It will be noted that Marc Marquez, when FP4, has already chosen the one who will serve as his hare, in this case Johann zarco... Let's hope for the best. It will be recalled that during this last free practice session dominated by Quarterly, both were in the top 10, with bagnaia in their wake. It's the first time that zarco faces a Q1 this year.

The first reference is signed by Lorenzo Savadori in 1'33.531 ahead Marc Marquez who served as a hare… But bagnaia raise your voice in 1'32.767. Johann zarco enters directly into the box. We fear a technical problem. His teammate Martin goes second.

bagnaia improves to 1'32.657. Martin is still his runner-up. Lecuona, Petrucci et Savadori follow. The big losers are Marc Marquez, Brad Binder et zarco. There are five minutes left...

Last run and Marc Marquez takes the wheel of zarco… Like apparently everyone else!

After a period of Moto3 type observation, the competition finally begins, behind zarco...

The drivers will have two laps. zarco goes fifth and lecuona second. He walked past Marc Marquez whose plans to follow zarco falls into the water… Moreover, the Honda official falls. Yellow flag.

Under the checkered flag, it's zarco which passes in 1'32.541 in front bagnaia. The Frenchman kept his nerve and was a fine strategist… lecuona is the first eliminated by 67 thousandths. Martin, Savadori, Alex Marquez, Marini, Petrucci, Bastianini and only Marc Marquez follow. He will start 20th. Brad Binder et gerloff are the last classified.

Ranking Qualification 1 of Grand Prix MotoGP from the Netherlands to TT Assen: 

Classification credit: MotoGP.com