Italian Francesco Bagnaia took pole position on Saturday during qualifying for the Dutch MotoGP Grand Prix in Assen, ahead of world championship leader, Spaniard Jorge Martin.
The official Ducati rider once again broke the absolute circuit record in 1:30.540 but only 81/1000ths ahead of that of the Ducati of the Pramac team.
The weapons are therefore geared up to see which of the two drivers will leave Assen, the 8th round of the world championship, at the top of the provisional ranking. Bagnaia is currently 18 points behind Martin but can amass 37 points in total if he wins the Sprint race on Saturday then the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Already the winner of the last two editions of this Assen Grand Prix, the Turin native will however have to triumph over the determination of Martin who will leave Ducati-Pramac next season to join Aprilia after seeing the managers of the official Ducati team prefer the six-time world champion. Marc Marquez to join Bagnaia next year.
Marquez, meanwhile, crashed heavily during qualifying on his Ducati-Gresini and will only start 7th on the grid for the Sprint race and the Grand Prix.
Saturday program :
8:40 a.m.: free practice 3 (Moto3)
9:25 a.m.: free practice 3 (Moto2)
10:10 a.m.: free practice 3 (MotoGP)
10h50 : qualifications (MotoGP)
12h50 : qualifications (Moto3)
13h45 : qualifications (Moto2)
15h : course sprint (MotoGP)
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