Assen MotoGP: Zarco takes shock pole from Marquez, Lorenzo 21st
Johann Zarco scored his first-ever MotoGP pole position in the Dutch TT at Assen during a thrilling qualifying session – while Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo suffered another wet-weather nightmare.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Tech 3 Yamaha rookie Zarco produced a sensational final lap in tricky weather conditions at the end of the second qualifying session, going 0.065s faster than Honda star Marc Marquez.
On a wet but quickly drying track, Danilo Petrucci set the early pace on his Pramac Ducati, and extended his pole advantage lap after lap.
Marquez grabbed P1 with three minutes remaining with a lap of 1m46.847s, as Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi rose to second.
Petrucci jumped back to first with 1m46.526s with less than a minute on the clock, but Marquez snatched it back on his final lap with 1m46.206s.
But then Zarco came out of nowhere to wrest the top spot away with 1m46.141s – just 0.065s faster - to take Tech 3's first pole since Cal Crutchlow's at Brno in 2013.
Petrucci was forced to settle for third, ahead of Rossi, Scott Redding (Pramac Ducati) and Jonas Folger (Tech 3 Yamaha) on row two. Next up were Alvaro Bautista (Aspar Ducati) and Crutchlow (LCR Honda).
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso crashed his works Ducati at Turn 8 with seven minutes to go, while Redding did likewise at the chicane – sprinting down the pitlane for his spare bike.
Dovizioso recovered to set the ninth fastest time. Sam Lowes’s Aprilia blew up in front of Rossi in the closing stages. Lowes will start 10th.
Works stars Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) and Dani Pedrosa (Honda) qualified a lacklustre 11th and 12th.
British 1-2 in Q1
British duo Redding and Lowes progressed from Q1, a much needed result for the under-pressure Lowes – although he only scraped through by less than 0.03s from last year’s Assen winner, Jack Miller, who will start 13th.
Loris Baz (Avintia Ducati), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and Andrea Iannone were next up, the latter one place ahead of Suzuki teammate Alex Rins.
Ducati’s Lorenzo will start 21st on the grid, after another woeful wet-weather performance saw him wind up 11th in Q1 and a full 1.293s behind pace-setter Redding.
Q2 results
Pos. | # | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha | 1'46.141 | |
2 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'46.206 | 0.065 |
3 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'46.526 | 0.385 |
4 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'46.705 | 0.564 |
5 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 1'47.574 | 1.433 |
6 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha | 1'47.663 | 1.522 |
7 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 1'47.812 | 1.671 |
8 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'48.042 | 1.901 |
9 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'48.079 | 1.938 |
10 | 22 | Sam Lowes | Aprilia | 1'48.128 | 1.987 |
11 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha | 1'48.266 | 2.125 |
12 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'49.623 | 3.482 |
Q1 results
Pos. | # | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 1'46.926 | |
2 | 22 | Sam Lowes | Aprilia | 1'47.191 | 0.265 |
3 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 1'47.217 | 0.291 |
4 | 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati | 1'47.234 | 0.308 |
5 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'47.277 | 0.351 |
6 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'47.649 | 0.723 |
7 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'47.804 | 0.878 |
8 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati | 1'47.947 | 1.021 |
9 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 1'47.957 | 1.031 |
10 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 1'48.080 | 1.154 |
11 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'48.219 | 1.293 |
12 | 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM | 1'48.448 | 1.522 |
13 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda | 1'48.700 | 1.774 |
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