Garrett Gerloff in the Petronas Yamaha SRT Box – this weekend the Texan will replace Frankie Morbidelli, who dropped out with a training injury on Tuesday, before he will tackle the fourth round of WorldSBK in Donington in a week, where he has never been before in Assen has driven.

Petrux’s sign of life in FP1 – Gerloff’s fall

This time, Danilo Petrucci was the only KTM to surprisingly make it into the top ten in the first free practice. Maverick Viñales, often decried as a surprise bag, set the fastest time ahead of Pol Espargaró, Alex Rins, Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco on what has often been the fastest Ducati. With an air temperature of only 18 degrees Celsius, an increase in all drivers in the second free practice session in the afternoon was to be expected. As expected, Morbido replacement Gerloff had no easy task on Friday morning. In addition to a fall, the US boy also had to accept a gap of almost three seconds on Maverick. You can’t hope for top results with him, but rather the task for him should be to get there on Sunday.

Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati Racing) before the start of the German Grand Prix – the World Cup runner-up ran damage control with P8 last weekend, but should be one of the favourites for a podium in Assen.

The Sachsenring winner stacks deep
Marc Marquez was a little less than a second behind the best time in 9th place behind Aleix Espargaró and his brand colleague Takaaki Nakagami. However, the six-time MotoGP world champion had already announced in the press conference the day before that he would hardly be able to fight for victory at the Dutch GP. His victory at the Sachsenring by no means that it will continue like this, and he sees himself in the fight for the top ten on Sunday. Because apparently not all drivers had revealed their cards on Friday morning, the placement had to be enjoyed with caution. The following is the ranking of FP1, with the drivers not provisionally qualified for Q2 in italics.

P, No, Rider, Km/h, Time/Gap 1st/Prev.
1, 12, Maverick VIÑALES, 304.4, 1’33.072,
2, 44, Pol ESPARGARO, 309.0, 1’33.183, 0.111 / 0.111
3, 42, Alex RINS, 305.2, 1’33.501, 0.429 / 0.318
4, 20, Fabio QUARTARARO, 300.0, 1’33.633, 0.561 / 0.132
5, 5, Johann ZARCO, 308.3, 1’33.887, 0.815 / 0.254
6, 9, Danilo PETRUCCI, 300.7, 1’33.939, 0.867 / 0.052
7, 41, Aleix ESPARGARO, 308.3, 1’33.993, 0.921 / 0.054
8, 30, Takaaki NAKAGAMI, 309.8, 1’34.004, 0.932 / 0.011
9, 93, Marc MARQUEZ, 308.3, 1’34.048, 0.976 / 0.044
10, 32, Lorenzo SAVADORI, 302.9, 1’34.098, 1.026 / 0.050
11, 43, Jack MILLER, 307.5, 1’34.245, 1.173 / 0.147
12, 63, Francesco BAGNAIA, 308.3, 1’34.265, 1.193 / 0.020
13, 36, Joan MIR, 304.4, 1’34.299, 1.227 / 0.034
14, 88, Miguel OLIVEIRA, 307.5, 1’34.422, 1.350 / 0.123
15, 46, Valentino ROSSI, 302.9, 1’34.431, 1.359 / 0.009
16, 33, Brad BINDER, 306.7, 1’34.491, 1.419 / 0.060
17, 27, Iker LECUONA, 306.7, 1’34.510, 1.438 / 0.019
18, 73, Alex MARQUEZ, 307.5, 1’34.916, 1.844 / 0.406
19, 23, Enea BASTIANINI, 303.7, 1’35.253, 2.181 / 0.337
20, 89, Jorge MARTIN, 307.5, 1’35.292, 2.220 / 0.039
21, 10, Luca MARINI, 303.7, 1’35.506, 2.434 / 0.214
22, 31, Garrett GERLOFF, 297.0, 1’35.961, 2.889 / 0.455

Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) on the Sachsenring in front of the injured Morbido (Petronas Yamaha SRT) in Assen – the Italian showed a very strong performance with P10 in FP1.

FP2 with a bad crash from Marc Marquez

The second free practice of MotoGP was less than 10 minutes old when first Marquez and shortly afterwards his Repsol Honda team-mate Pol Espargaró lay in the gravel. While it was only a slide over the front wheel with the latter, it looked much more violent with the 6-time MotoGP world champion. On Turn 10 he flew quite high off his Honda when his rear tire briefly lost grip and immediately afterwards grip again. Marc had previously been on the hunt for a new personal best and the landing was anything but smooth, but after that he decided not to go to the medical centre. Less than five minutes later, it started to rain, and the track was too wet to start further attempts to improve the time. With the fourth-best lap in FP2 to date, Marquez at least didn’t have to worry about being provisionally qualified for Q2.

Marc Marquez and on the left at the edge of the picture the bike of his Repsol Honda in the gravel bed – the winner of the German GP first had to sort himself out before he could get up again by highsider after his heavy crash.

The many sufferers of the rain
Because it was no longer dry, various drivers took to the track again, but there was no longer any possibility of improving the time. Garrett Gerloff was one of the main sufferers of the difficult conditions, with just over 40 minutes driving time on Friday. Should it be damp again on Saturday morning, the list of drivers who would have to try to qualify for Q2 via Q1 is prominent and long. From Jack Miller to his Ducati works team colleague Pecco Bagnaia to Nakagami, Binder and Assen, record winner Rossi, many prominent drivers would be affected. The latter would not be a surprise after the difficult first 8 rounds. Below is the combined ranking list with the drivers in italics who are currently not directly qualified for Q2.

P, No, Rider, Km/h, Time
1, 12, Maverick VIÑALES, 304.4, 1’33.072
2, 44, Pol ESPARGARO, 309.0, 1’33.183
3, 88, Miguel OLIVEIRA, 306.7, 1’33.400
4, 20, Fabio QUARTARARO, 300.0, 1’33.491
5, 42, Alex RINS, 305.2, 1’33.501
6, 93, Marc MARQUEZ, 308.3, 1’33.560
7, 36, Joan MIR, 304.4, 1’33.701
8, 5, Johann ZARCO, 309.8, 1’33.708
9, 9, Danilo PETRUCCI, 300.7, 1’33.939
10, 41, Aleix ESPARGARO, 308.3, 1’33.993
11, 30, Takaaki NAKAGAMI, 309.8, 1’34.004
12, 43, Jack MILLER, 309.8, 1’34.066
13, 32, Lorenzo SAVADORI, 302.9, 1’34.098
14, 63, Francesco BAGNAIA, 308.3, 1’34.265
15, 89, Jorge MARTIN, 308.3, 1’34.339
16, 73, Alex MARQUEZ, 307.5, 1’34.358
17, 46, Valentino ROSSI, 302.9, 1’34.431
18, 33, Brad BINDER, 306.7, 1’34.491
19, 27, Iker LECUONA, 306.7, 1’34.510
20, 23, Enea BASTIANINI, 305.2, 1’34.658
21, 10, Luca MARINI, 303.7, 1’35.506
22, 31, Garrett GERLOFF, 295.6, 1’35.744

The weather forecast – threatening for some drivers

Currently, the forecast for Saturday is similar to that for Friday, although the probability of rain is currently even a little higher. Some pilots currently not yet directly classified for the Q2 should therefore hope that the slightly higher eventuality of dry conditions for the FP3 will occur. This would give everyone another chance to improve their time and thus advance directly to the second qualifying. While the second free practice session of Moto2 took place on a wet track, it should stay dry, especially on Sunday. But you never know in Assen, and so far there have been a lot of races in the past in the rain. Below is the combined Moto2 ranking, with the riders in italics who are currently not directly qualified for Q2.

P, No, Rider, Km/h, Time/Gap 1st/Prev.
1, 37, Augusto FERNANDEZ, 257.6, 1’36.744,
2, 25, Raul FERNANDEZ, 258.7, 1’36.887, 0.143 / 0.143
3, 87, Remy GARDNER, 256.0, 1’37.132, 0.388 / 0.245
4, 9, Jorge NAVARRO, 256.6, 1’37.269, 0.525 / 0.137
5, 24, Simone CORSI, 253.9, 1’37.396, 0.652 / 0.127
6, 35, Somkiat CHANTRA, 258.2, 1’37.484, 0.740 / 0.088
7, 72, Marco BEZZECCHI, 259.3, 1’37.541, 0.797 / 0.057
8, 62, Stefano MANZI, 254.4, 1’37.556, 0.812 / 0.015
9, 16, Joe ROBERTS, 256.0, 1’37.622, 0.878 / 0.066
10, 21, Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO, 258.7, 1’37.710, 0.966 / 0.088
11, 96, Jake DIXON, 255.0, 1’37.757, 1.013 / 0.047
12, 14, Tony ARBOLINO, 259.3, 1’37.758, 1.014 / 0.001
13, 22, Sam LOWES, 256.0, 1’37.792, 1.048 / 0.034
14, 44, Aron CANET, 256.6, 1’37.805, 1.061 / 0.013
15, 11, Nicolò BULEGA, 255.5, 1’37.836, 1.092 / 0.031
16, 12, Thomas LUTHI, 253.9, 1’37.847, 1.103 / 0.011
17, 23, Marcel SCHROTTER, 254.4, 1’37.878, 1.134 / 0.031
18, 6, Cameron BEAUBIER, 257.6, 1’37.923, 1.179 / 0.045
19, 13, Celestino VIETTI, 257.1, 1’38.016, 1.272 / 0.093
20, 2, Alonso LOPEZ, 256.0, 1’38.104, 1.360 / 0.088
21, 97, Xavi VIERGE, 257.1, 1’38.163, 1.419 / 0.059
22, 64, Bo BENDSNEYDER, 252.3, 1’38.247, 1.503 / 0.084
23, 19, Lorenzo DALLA PORTA, 257.6, 1’38.476, 1.732 / 0.229
24, 75, Albert ARENAS, 257.1, 1’38.564, 1.820 / 0.088
25, 70, Barry BALTUS, 252.8, 1’38.876, 2.132 / 0.312
26, 40, Hector GARZO, 256.0, 1’38.968, 2.224 / 0.092
27, 79, Ai OGURA, 256.0, 1’39.041, 2.297 / 0.073
28, 42, Marcos RAMIREZ, 257.6, 1’39.169, 2.425 / 0.128
29, 55, Hafizh SYAHRIN, 254.4, 1’39.318, 2.574 / 0.149

World Championship stand in all classes after the 8th round in Germany

Assen Grand Prix schedule

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).