Moto2 Assen: Bagnaia takes command with breakaway win
Full Moto2 race results from Assen
Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia led from the start to the very last lap has he dominated the Moto2 Dutch Grand Prix from the front in Assen, round eight of the championship.
The Sky Racing VR46 rider had led the way all weekend on his Kalex, topping every session bar morning warm-up, and immediately pulled out a gap to his rivals on the opening lap.
Lorenzo Baldassarri gave chase but the gap only extended, handing the championship leader the ability to control the race from the front to take a commanding win, his fourth of the season, and extend his championship lead to 144 points - an advantage of 16 now over closest rival Miguel Oliveira.
Baldassarri suffered a rare flat tyre in the closing stages while he was still in second, ruining his chances. It was to be an equally stylish ride from Catalunya winner Fabio Quartararo which went on to claim that position.
The Speed Up rider collected just his second ever Moto2 podium in style after starting his day facing a three place grid penalty (along with Iker Lecuona) for not immediately entering the pits following the red flag incident in qualifying. He immediately set about making up positions before some incredible late pace saw him catch and then pass Joan Mir, Marcel Schrotter and Alex Marquez in the closing stages.
By the line the Frenchman was just 1.7s behind winner Bagnaia.
Marquez, who totalled two bikes over the course of the weekend was pleased to make the podium in third with EG 0,0 Marc VDS, and felt he made too many small errors over the length of the race.
A first rostrum finish still eludes Schrotter who came home fourth for Dynavolt Intact GP. Mir was again the top rookie in fifth on the second Marc VDS entry.
Miguel Oliveira had to make up from a poor qualifying yet again and turned his 17th place start to sixth by the end of the race aboard his Red Bull KTM Ajo machine.
His team-mate Brad Binder made up even more places to go from 22nd to seventh, finishing just ahead of Luca Marini who faded from his front row start to end his day eighth for the Sky Racing team.
Sam Lowes came back from an in-race penalty where he was forced to give up a position to secure ninth at the chequered flag with the Swiss Innovative Investors team.
Andrea Locatelli crossed the line in tenth for Italtrans, four seconds ahead of his team-mate Mattia Pasini who was next to finish in eleventh.
Jorge Navarro was 13th for Gresini, Dominique Aegerter finished 15th but after time penalties for others was awarded 14th for his Kiefer Racing Team. The final point went to Simone Corsi for Tasca Racing.
Home rider Bo Bendsneyder had another Assen to forget. Following his non-classification after crashing over the line in tenth in Moto3 last season, his 1.4 second time penalty took away his 14th place finish this time around, being pushed back to 17th for Tech 3 after the penalty was applied.
Danny Kent was the first man out of the race, exiting at turn three on the very first lap. Stefano Manzi also failed to go the distance, with an early trip into the gravel at turn ten, completing a weekend to forget filled with falls for the Italian.
Xavi Vierge survived a wobble then lost his composure trying to make his time back up, leading to a fall at turn one with 15 laps remaining. Romano Fenati crashed out in the closing stages.
Several riders didn’t make the starting grid at ‘The Cathedral’ - Tetsuta Nagashima was recovering from surgery on his hand following his FP2 fall, wild-card Xavi Cardelus missed out with a fractured left clavicle following his Qualifying crash, while Niki Tuuli, whose fall brought out the red flag in the same session was absent after surgery to amputate part of one his fingers on his left hand.
