2024 Dutch Moto2, Assen - Friday Practice Results

Fermin Aldeguer set a series of fast laps, which lead to the first time a Moto2 bike completed a sub 1m 36s trip around Assen ahead of round eight, the Moto2 Dutch Grand Prix.

The Folladore Speed Up rider showed his intent with the first lap below the benchmark, though that was cancelled for running on the green, exceeding track limits.

It was a sign of what was to come as the Spaniard tidied up his run to improve continually, finishing with a new lap record of 1m 35.912s.
 

• Alex Marquez set to stay at Gresini Ducati for 2025
• Dutch MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia leads FP1 ahead of Marc Marquez

Ai Ogura lead the opening session and continued his new found pre-race pace and form into the second timed session, pushing Aldeguer to the end to also finish with a lap in the 1m 35s bracket. His best was just 0.072s slower for MT Helmets MSI.

It wasn’t a clean sweep out front for Boscoscuro, with Joe Roberts time holding on for third.

The American Racing rider had set the fastest lap before falling on his next. The fast and violent turn seven highside saw him and his Kalex sent flying. The Californian was slow to get up, and once able to get out of the gravel was grabbing his shoulder and cradling his right arm, on his way to leave in an ambulance for further checks.

Championship leader Sergio Garcia was fourth quickest, completing a strong opening day for the MT Helmets team.

After the three week break Tony Arbolino looked a different rider, at one with his Elf Marc VDS bike in the Netherlands, on his way to setting the fifth best time. The Italian was only just faster than Aron Canet, sitting sixth for Fantic Racing in a tight session.

Alonso Lopez set the seventh best time on the second Speed Up machine, and was still within half a second of the top time.

Gresini’s Manuel Gonzalez was eighth quickest, with Honda Team Asia’s Somkiat Chantra and Albert Arenas (QJ Motor Gresini) completing the top ten.

The remaining automatic qualifying slots will be held overnight by Marcos Ramirez, home rider Bo Bendsneyder, Jake Dixon and another Netherlands racer, Zonta van den Goorbergh ahead of their home grand prix.

Dixon is returning to the scene of his first race win last season in 2023, with the CFMoto Inde Aspar needing late improvements to pull back in the top ten.

Bendsneyder is returning from his injury absence at home, as part of the newly bannered Preicanos Racing, formerly the Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team, still with Jaume Masia (25th) as his teammate. They are joined by wildcard rider Daniel Munoz, back in the paddock for 19th place.

There is an additional change with Marcel Schrotter (27th) sitting in at Red Bull KTM Ajo, in for the absent Deniz Oncu, who needs longer to recover from a recent operation following a training accident, his arm still in a sling.

The first Moto2 session at Assen saw Ai Ogura ahead and closing in on his old record pace. His teammate at MT Helmets - MSI, Sergio Garcia was a close second with Boscoscuro bike dominating the top of the timesheets, with all four of their bikes in the top five.

Joe Roberts was the early pacesetter in FP before a tumble saw him sat in the pits for the rest of the session awaiting repairs to his American Racing bike, with P1 then following a similar pattern.

The first session also saw falls for Diogo Moreira, Jaume Masia and Albert Arenas, with near misses for Garcia, who kept his bike running into the gravel, under the fans at the chicane and Dixon who also avoided a crash. There was also another warning near-miss for Roberts, who held on when briefly returning to track in the final minutes, with his leg dangling wildly to help him balance.

The second had a technical for Xavier Artigas and additional falls for Xavi Cardelus and Filip Salac.

The early off for Salac brought out the red flag after he lost the rear, getting beaten up by his bike as he dropped to the ground. The early timing of the crash meant the Marc VDS rider took no timed part in the session.