Vinales takes stunning Assen pole with new lap record
Maverick Vinales set a new all-time lap record at Assen as he beat team-mate Fabio Quartararo to pole position ahead of tomorrow’s Dutch MotoGP.
The two factory Yamaha riders have combined to top every session they’ve been involved in so far this weekend, with Q2 proving to be no different.
Quartararo snapped Vinales’ streak of topping every practice session during the pre qualifying FP4 session. And it looked like Quartararo was set to repeat that success in Q2 as he initially set a new lap record of his own.
A 1:31.922s time was good enough to put him over four tenths clear of Vinales, before the Spaniard responded with a 1:31.814s.
Third fastest was Francesco Bagnaia, who along with fellow Ducati rider Johann Zarco had to progress through Q1.
Zarco went third quickest on his final flying lap which looked to be good enough for the front row, however, a brilliant last sector from Bagnaia saw him pip the Frenchman.
Zarco then got relegated to the middle of the second row as Takaaki Nakagami put an impressive lap on the board to split the Bologna bullets.
Miguel Oliveira will start tomorrow’s 26 lap race from sixth place, while Alex Rins managed to take seventh before suffering a crash at turn 8.
Jack Miller will start from eighth position, Aleix Espargaro from ninth, and Joan Mir from tenth, as the 2020 world champion once again struggled to get the most from his Suzuki over one lap.
It was a disappointing qualifying for last weekend’s German GP winner Marc Marquez, as the eight-time world champion could only manage 20th place. Marquez was on course for a time similar to Bagnaia, but crashed at turn 9.
