After a couple of less than ideal weekends, Aprilia Racing seemed to have found their flow again in FP1 at Assen. Next up came practice, an hour for riders to fast track into Q2. Facing conditions of 35°C, 50°C on track, and 43% humidity, they were facing a challenging session.
Early On Track
With Moto2 and Moto3 proving the difficulties on track in the high heats, many riders were quick to head out and set lap times. Pedro Acosta was the rider to set the benchmark: a 1:33.710.
Finding himself in P4 after the initial laps, Álex Márquez slid at Turn 5, bringing out a brief yellow flag. Fortunately, he was able to get back up and onto the track. Both Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio tasted the top spot, but Acosta had an answer to both of their laps.
Following his crash in FP1, Marc Márquez was easing himself into the session. After a few laps to get up to speed with the track, his first flying lap saw him in seventh. Bezzecchi was able to better his lap from the morning session, returning to P1 by two tenths. As the first runs came to an end, the #72 was on top, with Brad Binder holding the final advancing place.
Aprilia Storming Ahead
Whilst most riders were in the pits, some opted to stay on track and get some free running. After joining the session late, Ai Ogura had the track to himself and went up to P3. In contrast, Bagnaia was unable to improve despite having a clear track with no traffic.
As the session reached the halfway point, Aprilia were the only manufacturer to have all their riders in the top ten. Jorge Martín flew to the top, 0.037 seconds ahead of his teammate. After achieving a 1-2 in FP1, Assen is starting to look like Aprilia Racing have the upper hand. Raúl Fernández also joined the front runners, slotting into P3.
In his first run, Bezzecchi was running the medium tyre and lighting the timing screens up. His second run saw him on the soft tyres. Initially, he was trailing his teammate. However, after a few laps to get the tyre up to temperature, he reclaimed P1, just before Fernández went P2. Ogura improved to make it an all-Aprilia top four.
The #79 improved again to go P1 with a gap of 0.144 seconds. The grid were spread out, with 1.454 seconds separating the top ten. The fastest non-Aprilia rider was Fermín Aldeguer, but he was over seven tenths adrift.
The Battle For Q2
As the session started to near the end, riders were pushing to head straight to Q2. Diogo Moreira, Joan Mir, and Luca Marini all found pace to head into the advancing places. This saw the Ducati Lenovo Team duo bumped out. However, switching to the soft tyres gave M. Márquez some extra place. He split to Aprilia’s, going P3.
Franco Morbidelli came under investigation from the stewards for riding slow online and blocking Enea Bastianini. The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider was able to continue to do another fast lap, jumping up into the top 10. Fellow KTM rider, Acosta, started to find pace, joining the front runners up in fourth.
Another yellow flag was brought out at Sector 3, this time for Aldeguer. Hitting the curb between Turns 11 and 12, he came off and tumbled into the gravel. He was taken to the medical centre to be checked out. The yellow interrupted plenty of riders, with many laps being cancelled. When the track went green again, riders across the grid were setting their fastest sectors.
The Top 10 in the Assen Practice
With ten minutes remaining, Bezzecchi reclaimed P1, finding three tenths over Ogura. Á. Márquez briefly slotted into third before his brother found time to go ahead of him again. Fernández went up to P2 whereas Martín split the Márquez brothers.
Mir went back into the top 10, pushing Aldeguer out. More yellows were shown at Sector 4 for Martín, sliding out over a curb. Then, Á. Márquez had another crash, where his teammate went down. Doctors joined him in the gravel and the session was red flagged.
With three minutes remaining, everyone was quick to head out when the track went green for a final flying lap. Bagnaia and Bastianini improved, both now advancing. No one else improved, so despite not finishing the session, both Martín and Á. Márquez will head straight into Q2.
Aprilia Racing seem to have the upper hand this weekend at Assen. Bezzecchi has stormed ahead in both sessions today. Can anyone find something to challenge the championship leader with?