Things are heating up at the Tissot Grand Prix of the Netherlands, and we’re not just talking about the weather. Marco Bezzecchi was again at the top of the time board, finishing the session with a lap time of 1:31.61. Read on for everything you need to know about MotoGP Free Practice 2 at the Dutch GP.
Drama to Start Saturday Morning at Assen
Big news before the session got underway, it was announced that Fermín Aldeguer would take no further part in the TT Circuit Assen weekend after his crash on Friday.
His BK8 Gresini Racing teammate, however, had been declared fit by the medical centre and was gearing up for the 30-minute session. In the opening minutes, we already had one rider off the track in Raúl Fernández. The Trackhouse MotoGP Team rider pulled straight off at Turn 9 and into the gravel with a suspected technical issue before taking a long detour back down the service road.
And once again, Pedro Acosta and his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing RC16 were left on the side of the track with their own reliability problems. The #37 abandoned the motorbike before running back to the pit boxes to retrieve the second bike.
Fabio Di Giannantonio had been holding onto the top spot, improving in time on every lap. But the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team was knocked down a spot in the order by Bezzecchi with a 1:31.844.
One Final Incident to End the Session
Acosta and Fernández returned to the circuit on their spare bikes as Di Giannantonio backed out of a flying lap to pit. At this point, at least 17 of the riders were all setting times within one second of each other. As the final minutes of the MotoGP session started to wind down, it seemed like very little else of note would occur with riders’ sights set on the upcoming qualifying.
However, Jack Miller proved that notion wrong as the Australian rider slid fast off the TT Circuit Assen at Turn 9. The team at Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP could be seen hustling to get the second bike ready since the #43 still has to battle for an advancing position in Q1.
Meanwhile, the MotoGP FP2 session came to a close with Bezzecchi once again on top, followed by both Trackhouse MotoGP Team riders.
Your Top 10 of the Session
P1: Marco Bezzecchi – 1:31.611
P2: Raúl Fernández +0.120
P3: Ai Ogura +0.239
P4: Fabio Di Giannantonio +0.309
P5: Marc Márquez +0.379
P6: Pedro Acosta +0.502
P7: Jorge Martín +0.509
P8: Francesco Bagnaia +0.580
P9: Álex Márquez +0.726
P10: Franco Morbidelli +0.745
What’s to Come
Some may think that this weekend at the Dutch GP is Marco Bezzecchi’s chance at redemption since he topped both Friday’s FP1 and Practice sessions. Now that the #72 has completed FP2 as the fastest rider out on circuit, it bodes well for the rest of his Dutch GP campaign. But there is still qualifying, a Tissot Sprint, and the main race on Sunday on the schedule. And, if it shapes up to be like all the unpredictable scenarios we’ve already seen this season, there’s no telling what could happen for the rest of this weekend in MotoGP. We’ll keep you updated with our continued coverage.