It seems there is no stopping Marc Márquez and his Saturday domination as he secures his ninth MotoGP Sprint win of the season at the TT Circuit Assen. He was followed by his younger brother Álex Márquez, with Marco Bezzecchi making his first Sprint appearance in two years. We’ve highlighted the key moments of the 13-Lap race.
The First Three Laps
All eyes were on the front row as they lined up after the warm-up lap, with the possibility of Márquez’s domination being broken for the first time in the Tissot Sprint in sight. Fabio Quartararo had a brilliant start, fending off both the Márquez brothers and Francesco Bagnaia.
Joan Mir came off at Turn 2, bringing out the yellow flags before the first lap was completed. Raúl Fernández also rode wide off the track and then disappeared, ending his race. As the riders came back on the main straight, M. Márquez had pulled in front of Quartararo, with his younger brother not far behind. Bezzecchi quickly came up from fifth to third, overtaking Quartararo and Bagnaia.
Gaps Forming and Closing
M. Marquez continued to defend against his brother, going wide in turns but keeping pole position. Bezzecchi, Quartararo, and Fabio Di Giannantonio kept up the pace to try and chase the front pack, but Bagnaia continued to fall behind. Several riders began to see track limit warnings appear, indicating that they needed to keep the lines tight or face a penalty in the form of a long lap.
Another Quartararo Crash
With four laps remaining, Quartararo came off in Turn 10 before the apex, making it a fourth DNF for him this season and another example of the Yamaha being pushed past its limits. This left the first to fifth positions in a complete Ducati lockout.
Ending With a Penalty
Fermín Aldeguer exceeded his track limits one too many times, resulting in a long lap penalty. Pedro Acosta was also penalised, but with no more laps to serve, a 3-second incursion had to be added after the race. Lorenzo Savadori was served an 8-second time penalty for a tyre pressure infringement, stripping him of his personal best Sprint race finish.
The Top Nine
In the nine rounds already completed this year, the pattern shows that as long as a Márquez (#93 or #73) wins on Sprint Saturday, one of them will also end up with a podium finish in the feature race on Sunday. Out of the Top Nine finishers, only Bagnaia was free of any track limits warnings, meaning that he should be able to keep pace in the primary race tomorrow. With the grid reset to our top qualifiers, it could be the clean slate that Quartararo needs to redeem himself after today’s result. As always, the drama will continue in MotoGP on Sunday.