MotoGP/2/3/E round ups from opening day of practice at Assen

MotoGP 2023

Round Eight – Assen

MotoGP Friday Practice

As Friday’s running drew closer to the end, the time attacks came flying in with the riders conscious of the importance of finishing inside the top 10 to bag a Q2 spot. Bezzecchi maintained a firm grip on the top spot though, with no one able to topple the Italian after he’d also topped P1 in the morning.

Marco Bezzecchi – P1

“I’m quite happy with this Day1 at Assen, apart from the flying lap, I’m satisfied with the pace and the changes made between the two sessions. I felt good from the beginning, this layout, with such wide corners, suits well on my style, especially in fast corners. We started from a very good and solid base and we worked hard.”

Martin had an eventful P2 session seeing him shortcutting the circuit on numerous occasions but put in a strong lap in the closing stages to finish the day 0.143s away from Bezzecchi.

Meanwhile, it was looking as Bagnaia was struggling to find a setup that worked for him around the Assen circuit, with the Italian showing visible signs of frustration during Practice 1. With the Champion sitting in P12 after the morning session, the Ducati garage worked away before P2 to give Bagnaia the feeling that he needed, and the bike was looking much more stable. Bagnaia blasted his way to the top three initially, but Miller had something to say about that.

Francesco Bagnaia – P4

“I haven’t been so angry with the bike in general for a long time, I didn’t feel good, I couldn’t do anything, the bike was too nervous. I didn’t feel enough load on the tyres; when I lifted up, the bike started shaking, and I even stopped before the end of the session because it was difficult to ride like that. I’m happy that we managed to find a way to take a step forward, we improved a lot, at the end my pace was very fast with the medium and then the time-attack came quite good even without doing an excellent lap. I’m happy with the work done, I feel good and we’re back to having good sensations.”

The Aussie sandwiched himself between the title-fighting trio, pushing Bagnaia down to P4 in the closing stages. The job was done for both teams with secured Q2 spots in the bag ahead of Saturday’s qualifying action.

Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) finished the first Practice in a comfortable P2, and showed strong pace in the 2nd Practice to finish the day in fifth overall. The Spaniard will be looking for a return to the podium after taking 3rd place at Assen just one year ago, his first rostrum with Aprilia, and at a track where he boasts one of the best CVs on the grid.

Maverick Vinales – P5

“I’m pleased with these first two sessions. I’m convinced, and I say this in all sincerity, that our potential is high and not yet fully explored. A difficult weekend like the one on the Sachsenring taught us a lot and we need to exploit that to improve – that’s the right spirit. The goal for tomorrow is to do a good lap in qualifying. I want to start as far forward as possible.”

Despite riding with that toe injury picked up when running, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) showed signs of progress aboard his Yamaha M1 after taking P6. The Frenchman will be relieved to be missing Q1 this time out, and will be hoping his smooth riding style will be able to put him right back in the mix at the fast, flowing Assen circuit.

Fabio Quartararo – P6

“I‘m happy about how today‘s practice sessions went. But I‘m pretty sore, and I‘m shaking a lot on the left side in the left corners. But it is what it is, and hopefully we can make tomorrow a really great day. I didn‘t ride with pain killers this morning, but I did in the afternoon, because this afternoon was really important for me, and we did well. Hopefully tomorrow during the Sprint, with more laps in a row, it will be good too.”

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) finished the day in P7 ahead of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder, with both KTMs through this time round.

Aleix Espargaro – P7

“It’s good to be in Q2. A shame about my flying lap where I lost a lot of time behind Morbidelli. Then I had to relaunch, but I no longer had the best grip of the new tyre. In any case, I’m feeling good. It was not at all easy to be fast today. We still need to analyse the data well to choose the right tyre because the information from last year doesn’t seem to be indicative from this point of view.”

Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) showed flashes of brilliance throughout the day to secure P9, with Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) snatching the final Q2 spot.

Luca Marini – P9

“Overall a good day: a shame about my last attempt, I lost the rear at turn 12 and was unable to improve. In any case, we hit the Q2, which was our target for the day. In terms of feeling, I’m happy with the step forward between the two sessions, but we lose 2/3 tenths of a second on the pace compared to the fastest guys. We are working hard for qualifying because it will be crucial for the final result of the weekend.”

Alex Marquez – P10

“It was a very productive day without a doubt, even though in the afternoon we struggled a bit more due to the wind. Despite the harder time, we still made it into Q2. We need to work well tomorrow and understand where to improve. We still miss a bit of feeling with the front end, but I’m confident.”

It was a bump in the road for three-in-a-row podium finisher Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) as the Frenchman failed to secure himself a place in Q2 by just 0.088s, and he’ll have to battle his way through Q1 after finishing in P11.

The Frenchman will be joined by the two CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team riders of Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira who finished 12th and 13th respectively.

Raul Fernandez – P12

“To be honest, I’m really happy. I didn’t want to do any mistakes again that makes me lose my confidence. As we saw in Mugello, we had the potential to fight for Q2 but in the last two races due to my errors, I lost confidence and when we had to put the tyre on for the time attack, I couldn’t fight. Anyway, today we did a good job, we saw that I had the potential to be close to go to Q2 and that is very important for us. Day by day, I get to understand more about the rear tyre and how to manage it to do a decent time. I am really happy with the pace and with my lap time, the team did a good job.”

Miguel Oliveira – P13

“It was a strange day, from morning to afternoon, I struggled with the bike stability in the fast changes of direction, basically losing a lot of time there. I think I may be the only one to have this kind of problem among the four Aprilia riders. Definitely there is room for improvement, that’s for sure, we’ll see tomorrow. Today, there was potential for a lot more but we just couldn’t get over from this little issue.”

Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) also failed to make the Q2 cut after finishing in 15th and 19th. Both riders made trips to the gravel trap, with Marquez hitting the deck just two corners into his only time attack of the day as P2 came to a close.

Enea Bastianini – P15

“It was a bit of a complicated day because the grip wasn’t very good this morning and as soon as I put the medium in front I crashed. This certainly slowed us down a bit. This afternoon I struggled, we made a small step but it wasn’t what we expected. Physically I’m not perfect here, it’s certainly a very tough track and there was also a strong wind today. I think tomorrow will be better. You have to be perfect here in Assen because if you make a mistake in a corner you take it with you all the way round the track, so we have to try to achieve the perfection that we are lacking. It won’t be easy because there isn’t much time available. I will try to study the data in the best possible way and have fun; it would be nice to have a good qualifying to be able to have a good race.”

Marc Marquez – P19

“Today I had a limitation on the physical side with the rib that I cracked in Germany, especially in the last sector and the change of direction. This did not help us today with our performance. I spent most of today riding in an easy way and then pushed right at the end to try and improve our position and see if Q2 was possible, but I crashed. Tomorrow I will try to push in Q1 and see if we can make something happen.”

With some huge names in Q1, the stage is set for some thrilling qualifying sessions followed by the Tissot Sprint race late on Saturday night.

MotoGP Friday Practice Results

MotoGP Championship Points

Moto2 Friday Practice

Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) is the rider to beat in Moto2 at the Motul TT Assen as the Brit heads into Saturday’s action on top of the combined standings after setting a blistering 1m36.463.

The Spanish Armada was in hot pursuit as Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools SpeedUp) stayed within two-tenths of the GASGAS rider, however.

Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) is showing he’s returning to the form we know he’s capable of, bagging P4 after Friday practice, with Sam Lowes (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team) rounding out the top five ahead of Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in P6.

Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp) takes seventh overall thanks to his best from P1, ahead of Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) and Championship leader Tony Arbolino (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team) in P9. Home team Fieten Olie Racing GP had a good start with Barry Baltus completing the top ten.

Moto2 Friday Practice Results

Moto2 Championship Points

Moto3 Friday Practice

It’s advantage Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) as the Motul TT Assen kicks off the weekend with Moto3 Practice. The Spaniard put down a 1:41.579 to keep the field at arm’s length, with Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) 0.350s behind. Just 0.053s behind his fellow Italian was Romano Fenati (Rivacold Snipers Team) whose wide, swooping lines are playing perfectly to the fast, flowing characteristics of the Assen circuit.

As the clock counted down to the chequered flag a flurry of fast laps came flying in during Practice 2. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) and Xavier Artigas (CFMOTO Racing PruestelGP) put the hammer down to secure 4th and 5th respectively, with rookie David Alonso (Valresa GASGAS Aspar M3) rounding out the top 6 ahead of Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse).

The intense rush for a time attack caught out Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets MSI) as the Brazilian crashed out with 3 minutes to go for the 2nd time in the afternoon. The youngster just managed enough to secure P8 on combined times. Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) is down in P9, just ahead of Championship leader Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3) who suffered a crash at Turn 16 with just under 30 minutes of P2 remaining.

Joel Kelso got his race weekend off to a better start than the Sachsenring by ending day one in 14th place, with less than a second to find in order to get on terms with the front runners.

Moto3 Friday Practice Results

Moto3 Championship Points

MotoE Qualifying

Mattia Casadei (HP Pons Los40) flew through Q1 to snatch pole at the iconic Cathedral of Speed. But it wasn’t to be for the Italian as a tyre pressure penalty sees the lap on which they didn’t comply – his best effort in Q2 – scrubbed off. So instead, it’s points leader Jordi Torres (Openbank Aspar Team) who will head the grid ahead of closest challenger in the standings, Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE), and previous Assen winner Eric Granado (LCR E-Team).

Row 2 will now be impressive rookie Randy Krummenacher (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) ahead of Mugello Race 1 winner Andrea Mantovani (RNF MotoE Team) and Alessandro Zaccone (Tech3 E-Racing), who was through to Q2 directly once again as his comeback continues gathering momentum.

It didn’t go to plan for most recent winner Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) as the Spaniard failed to find his way into Q2 and will start both races from 12th on the grid. Casadei will start tenth.

MotoE Qualifying Q2 Results

MotoE Qualifying Q1 Results

2023 Assen MotoGP Weekend Schedule
Times in AEST

2023 MotoGP Calendar