MotoGP Assen SPRINT LIVE: Francesco Bagnaia imperial!

With a breathtaking time of 1'30.540, Pecco Bagnaia brilliantly took pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, marking the eighth round of the 2024 MotoGP at the Assen TT circuit. The performance of Bagnaia, rider of the No. 1 Ducati, is all the more impressive as he achieved this feat while always riding alone, without looking for the wake of his rivals. This pole position is Bagnaia's 19th in MotoGP and the 26th of his career, his last being 231 days ago during the 2023 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Alongside bagnaia on the first line is George Martin, who finished just 0,081 seconds behind with his Ducati Pramac. Maverick Vinales complete the first line with its Aprilia, falling behind by 0,411 seconds.

The second line will be opened by Alex Marquez on the Ducati Gresini, with a time of 1'30.979. He will be accompanied by the Aprilia ofAleix Espargaró et Fabio DiGiannantonio, who, after going through Q1, finished sixth with a delay of 0,734 seconds.

Qualifying was marked by a fall of Marc Marquez. Having waited for the last laps to attempt a fast time, Brandza fell while overtaking Aleix Espargaró due to excessive speed in turn 7. He will finally start from seventh position, ahead of the Ducati Pramac of Franco Morbidelli and the KTM of Brad Binder.

The fourth line will see Peter Acosta, who also passed Q1 before falling at the end of the session, accompanied byEnea Bastianini (Ducati Factory) and Raul fernandez (Aprilia TrackHouse). Fabio Quartararo will start 13th on Yamaha, followed by Jack Miller (KTM) in 14th position and Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati VR46 Racing Team), who crashed during Q1 and will start 15th. alex rins, having failed to pass Q1, will start 16th.

Lorenzo Savadori, test driver for Aprilia, achieved the 18th time, while Luca marini (Repsol Honda) will start from the seventh row, with the 21st time.

What will this Sprint race in Assen have in store for us? Before you know it, here is the table that summarizes the facts known so far.

MotoGP™ Netherlands, Assen	2023	2024
FP1	1'32.246 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	1'32.401 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
Practice	1'32.063 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	1'31.340 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
FP2	1'32.405 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	1'31.670 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
Q1	1'31.993 Johann Zarco (See here)	1'31.372 Pedro Acosta (See here)
Q2	1'31.472 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	1'30.540 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
Sprint	Bezzecchi, Bagnaia, Quartararo (See here)	Bagnaia, Martin, Vinales (See here)
Warm Up	1'32.422 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	(See here)
Course	Bagnaia, Bezzecchi, Espargaro (See here)	(See here)
All time lap record	1'31.472 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	1'30.540 Francesco Bagnaia

It’s sprint race day!! We are ready and you??

Martin hid his game well... coming this morning, slamming the lap record in 1st before Bagnaia took it back in stride...!!

Needless to say, there will be sport!!! and the fight this afternoon...and that's without counting on Marc Marquez, the future Ducati rider...whose only desire is to win!!!

And Marc Marquez is also ready!!!

The weather is beautiful above the Assen track, 13 laps will have to be completed.

For the record, this is the first pole position for Bagnaia this year.

warm up lap

It's off and it's Bagnaia who takes the lead ahead of Martin and AMarquez. Vinales and MMarquez bring up the rear of the top5.

Quartararo is 10th. Zarco is 21st.

Fall of MMarquez.

In front Martin remains clinging to Bagnaia's saddle. Vinales attacks AMarquez and it passes, he takes 3rd position.

There are 10 laps left to complete, Bagnaia rolls out and gradually digs in on Martin, he has a lead of 0.533s. Behind, Vinales, AMarquez, Binder, Espargaro, Bastianini, Di Giannantonio, Quartararo and Morbidelli complete this provisional top10. 

Binder presses on AMarquez…

Fall for Savadori.

Retirement for Marini following engine failure!!!

MMarquez falls from Binder’s motorcycle…

Bagnaia takes off, he has a lead of 1.220s over Martin. There are 6 laps left to complete. The Pramac pilot does not seem able to react. However, given the weekend announced, Martin is limiting the damage, the latter having announced on Friday that he was not very comfortable on this route...

Bastianini overtakes Binder to gain 5th position. This passes, and in the process, he buys AMarquez's bike, he is 4th now.

Long lap announced for RFernandez, the latter having exceeded the limits of the track. This one does it by following.

There are 2 laps left before taking the checkered flag and Bagnaia holds on at the head of the troops. Martin, Vinales, Bastianini and Di Giannantonio complete this top5

Long lap for AMarquez who doesn't do it... downgrading to come.

Heavy Fall of Espargaro

Victory for Bagnaia ahead of Martin and Vinales

Sprint standings for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix in Assen:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com