- 2023-06-25
-
SPORTS
MotoGP Dutch GP: Marco Bezzecchi Takes Pole Position and Wins Sprint Race at Motul TT Assen
The Round 8 of MotoGP 2023, Motul TT Assen took place at the TT Circuit Assen Assen, Netherlands on June 24, 2023.
In Qualifying, Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) took his first pole position of 2023 with lap record 1'31.472s. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) was 2nd behind Marco Bezzecchi by 0.061s.
Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati) was 3rd, which his fourth front row of 2023.
Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) was 4th, which marks his best result of this season. Following Yamaha rider, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) in 5th and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) in 6th.
In Q1, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) contacted with Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo) who was trying to stay out of everybody's way after he finished his attacks. Marc Marquez could not advance to Q2 and finished 17th.
Also, Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) an unusually poor 12th.
In the Sprint Race, Marco Bezzecchi claimed his first victory of the Sprint Race ahead of Francesco Bagnaia in 2nd by 1.294s.
Brad Binder (Brad Binder) finished 3rd, but only to be stripped of third by a Long Lap penalty on the final lap, for exceeding track limits.
Then, Fabio Quartararo moved up to 3rd from 4th and took his first podium in the Sprint Race.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) was 4th, with Brad Binder classified 5th following the penalty.
Front row start Luca Marini fell down the field to an eventual 10th position after being handed a 0.5s penalty for taking a shortcut.
Marco Bezzecchi said, “I felt amazing today on the bike," he said after his first sprint win. I made a mistake on the first corner and lost two places. But I kept myself calm and my pace was good I came back and I'm very happy. I hope the fans enjoyed it - see you tomorrow!”
Francesco Bagnaia said, “I'm happy! I tried everything and when you try everything and don't succeed, you can still be happy. I was trying to close the gap to Bez, but unluckily, in the last two laps I started to feel like I was risking too much. The rear was a bit on the limit so I decided to slow down a bit and control the gap from behind. Yesterday morning was quite tough but we improved our situation a lot. In the qualifying I was feeling great so I tried to push but the first sector is where I'm losing a lot. We have to understand why. Apart from that I'm happy with the feeling. The new bike [here] needs some more laps but we already know where to improve and where we can do a little step for tomorrow.”
Fabio Quartararo said, “I think this is basically all we can do. If we start better, maybe we stay [at the front], at least in this track. Some tracks we can start really in front and it won't matter. But here I started P4 and finished P4. [The penalty] was the only way for me to overtake Brad. In the sprint we could see where we were losing quite a lot, so hopefully we can manage a little bit better tomorrow.”
Luca Marini said, “Just very difficult to explain what happened today. This morning in qualifying and in FP3, I was not so strong, but OK. While it was a disaster riding the bike this afternoon. I was struggling a lot, especially with the front tyre. A lot of understeering in the fast corners, a lot of closing in the front in the slow corners. So we need to understand the why and try to avoid this problem tomorrow.”
Motul TT Assen Qualifying Results- Marco Bezzecchi / Mooney VR46 Ducati / 1'31.472s
- Francesco Bagnaia / Ducati Lenovo / +0.061s
- Luca Marini / Mooney VR46 Ducati / +0.158s
- Fabio Quartararo / Monster Yamaha / +0.199s
- Brad Binder / Red Bull KTM / +0.232s
- Aleix Espargaro / Aprilia Racing / +0.340s
- Maverick Viñales / Aprilia Racing / +0.365s
- Johann Zarco / Pramac Ducati / +0.409s
- Alex Marquez / Gresini Ducati / +0.426s
- Jorge Martin / Pramac Ducati / +0.698s
- Miguel Oliveira / RNF Aprilia / +0.702s
- Jack Miller / Red Bull KTM / +1.243s
- Fabio Di Giannantonio / Gresini Ducati / 1'32.185s
- Takaaki Nakagami / LCR Honda / 1'32.497
- Franco Morbidelli / Monster Yamaha / 1'32.53s
- Raul Fernandez / RNF Aprilia / 1'32.671s
- Marc Marquez / Repsol Honda / 1'32.672s
- Enea Bastianini / Ducati Lenovo / 1'32.844s
- Lorenzo Savadori / Aprilia Factory / 1'33.008s
- Stefan Bradl / LCR Honda / 1'33.04s
- Augusto Fernandez / Tech3 GASGAS / 1'33.082s
- Iker Lecuona / Repsol Honda / 1'33.088s
- Jonas Folger / Tech3 GASGAS / 1'33.3s
Motul TT Assen Sprint Race Results- Marco Bezzecch / Mooney VR46 Ducati / 20m 9.174s
- Francesco Bagnaia / Ducati Lenovo / +1.294s
- Fabio Quartararo / Monster Yamaha / +1.872s
- Aleix Espargaro / Aprilia Racing / +2.245s
- Brad Binder / Red Bull KTM / +4.582s
- Jorge Martin / Pramac Ducati / +5.036s
- Maverick Viñales / Aprilia Racing / +5.876s
- Enea Bastianini / Ducati Lenovo / +10.102s
- Alex Marquez / Gresini Ducati / +10.525s
- Luca Marini / Mooney VR46 Ducati / +10.556s
- Jack Miller / Red Bull KTM / +11.191s
- Takaaki Nakagami / LCR Honda / +11.473s
- Johann Zarco / Pramac Ducati / +15.439s
- Augusto Fernandez / Tech3 GASGAS / +17.754s
- Franco Morbidelli / Monster Yamaha / +19.508s
- Lorenzo Savadori / Aprilia Factory / +19.664s
- Marc Marquez / Repsol Honda / +19.916s
- Raul Fernandez / RNF Aprilia / +20.583s
- Miguel Oliveira / RNF Aprilia / +24.269s
- Iker Lecuona / Repsol Honda / +24.727s
- Jonas Folger / Tech3 GASGAS / +32.056s
- Stefan Bradl / LCR Honda / +35.372s
Photo by MotoGP- source : MotoGP