Marc Marquez together with his Repsol Honda again in the gravel trap after Friday – first he tried to let himself be pulled into Q2 as the shadow of Johann Zarco, then he was tricked by the French and fell a little later in Q1 through his own fault.

Marquez embarrassing on P20 – Viñales ahead of Quartararo and Pecco on pole

The fight for the grid for the ninth race of the season began in FP3 in the morning and for once Valentino Rossi was one of the drivers who were able to shine. With P9 ahead of Jack Miller, the old champion made it straight into Q2 like his two Yamaha brand colleagues Viñales and Quartararo. Surprising candidates in the first qualifying, however, were Sachsenring pole sitters Johann Zarco, Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez. The latter, however, was overtaken by Lecuona shortly before the finish line when he hung himself with Lecuona in the shadow of Zarco and was then tricked by the man from Cannes. This set the fastest time in Q1 before Pecco, with which the two Ducati drivers reached the final qualifying and the Repsol Honda driver even crashed into the gravel. Saturday could hardly end more embarrassingly for the 6-time MotoGP world champion.

World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo on the left with Valentino Rossi at the press conference – the two Yamaha riders relaxed before the Dutch Grand Prix, even if the man on the right now has his future in MotoGP hanging by a thread.

The result after Q2
Maverick Viñales will be the last to start the race on Sunday at the German GP a week ago, together with Fabio Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia. Behind him Takaaki Nakagami on the best Honda together with Ducati sensation man Johann Zarco and Miguel Oliveira on the only KTM in Q2. Alex Rins fell during his last time attack, but the Suzuki star was uninjured and is on P7 and will tackle the Dutch GP from row 3 together with Jack Miller and Aleix Espargaró. After all, it was enough for the reigning world champion Joan Mir, Pol Espargaró and old master Valentino Rossi for row four. Below is the starting grid with the positions and times in italics, as well as backlogs on Zarco as the fastest from Q1.

P, No, Rider, Km/h, Time/Gap 1st/Prev.
1, 12, Maverick VIÑALES, 306.7, 1’31.814,
2, 20, Fabio QUARTARARO, 306.7, 1’31.885, 0.071 / 0.071
3, 63, Francesco BAGNAIA, 313.0, 1’32.116, 0.302 / 0.231
4, 30, Takaaki NAKAGAMI, 309.8, 1’32.314, 0.500 / 0.198
5, 5, Johann ZARCO, 315.4, 1’32.394, 0.580 / 0.080
6, 88, Miguel OLIVEIRA, 310.6, 1’32.450, 0.636 / 0.056
7, 42, Alex RINS, 308.3, 1’32.597, 0.783 / 0.147
8, 43, Jack MILLER, 313.0, 1’32.609, 0.795 / 0.012
9, 41, Aleix ESPARGARO, 309.8, 1’32.666, 0.852 / 0.057
10, 36, Joan MIR, 306.7, 1’32.748, 0.934 / 0.082
11, 44, Pol ESPARGARO, 312.2, 1’32.830, 1.016 / 0.082
12, 46, Valentino ROSSI, 305.2, 1’32.919, 1.105 / 0.089
3, 27, Iker LECUONA, 309.8, 1’32.724, 0.183 / 0.067
4, 89, Jorge MARTIN, 317.0, 1’32.850, 0.309 / 0.126
5, 32, Lorenzo SAVADORI, 305.2, 1’33.258, 0.717 / 0.408
6, 73, Alex MARQUEZ, 311.4, 1’33.288, 0.747 / 0.030
7, 10, Luca MARINI, 309.0, 1’33.321, 0.780 / 0.033
8, 9, Danilo PETRUCCI, 305.2, 1’33.378, 0.837 / 0.057
9, 23, Enea BASTIANINI, 312.2, 1’33.404, 0.863 / 0.026
10, 93, Marc MARQUEZ, 310.6, 1’33.477, 0.936 / 0.073
11, 33, Brad BINDER, 307.5, 1’33.597, 1.056 / 0.120
12, 31, Garrett GERLOFF, 300.0, 1’33.739, 1.198 / 0.142

The first interviews after Q2
Franceso Bagnaia was overjoyed with third place on the grid, because initially in Assen he didn’t have the best feeling with his Ducati. But they improved bit by bit from Friday morning, and in the end he was relieved to be able to start so far ahead. Fabio Quartararo didn’t have the best feeling with the soft rear tire, which is why he was more than happy with the second starting position. He also stated that he made a mistake on his last time attack and that starting the race from the front row is excellent for him and his team with the first two places. Maverick was surprisingly cool in the interview and was simply happy about the good starting position. Now it’s about using the good starting position and fighting for a podium on Sunday.

Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati Racing) was the sensation in Q1 with the perceived chance of Q2 in the last second and was third-best there for a long time before two drivers were faster than the Frenchman.

The starting grid in all 3 classes at a glance

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).