Jorge Martin snatches Assen MotoGP pole, Marc Marquez seventh
Jorge Martin inherited pole after a late lap cancellation for Raul Fernandez in Assen MotoGP qualifying
Jorge Martin led an Aprilia 1-2-3 in MotoGP qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix, after a late session-topping lap for Raul Fernandez was cancelled.
It marks the 2024 world champion’s first pole position since the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, over 600 days ago.
Jorge Martin led Aprilia’s first 1-2-3-4 in a MotoGP qualifying session with a 1m30.812s, narrowly pipping Ai Ogura by 0.11s and championship leader Marco Bezzecchi in third.
A late 1m30.7s for Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez put him pole briefly in the closing stages, but it was scrubbed from the board due to track limits.
The leading non-Aprilia was Pecco Bagnaia in fifth on the factory team Ducati, while Marc Marquez struggled to seventh in Q2.
Bezzecchi set the tone for an Aprilia-dominated Q2 with his opening gambit of 1m30.853s.
Marc Marquez produced a 1m31.2s on his first lap, but had it cancelled for exceeding track limits, while his follow-up tour was also scrubbed from the records for the same thing.
Martin produced the 1m30.812s that would take him to pole with just over five minutes to go, but it was beaten by Fernandez moments later.
But with Fernandez’s lap getting cancelled and dropping him back to fourth, Martin was reinstated to his first Aprilia pole.
Just 0.033s covered the top three, with Fernandez 0.103s off the pole time after his best lap was deleted, while Bezzecchi’s pole hopes were thwarted by a late yellow flag.
Bagnaia was 0.118s from pole, but that was only good enough for fifth ahead of VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marc Marquez, who registered his worst qualifying of the season.
Pedro Acosta was left in eighth after his KTM suffered another technical issue in Q2, having already encountered one in FP2.
Fabio Quartararo came through Q1 to qualify ninth on the Yamaha ahead of Honda’s Joan Mir, while Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini was 11th and Alex Marquez (Gresini) was 12th.
Alex Marquez didn’t take part in the session following his crash on Friday, but has not yet been ruled out of the rest of the weekend.
VR46 Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli threatened a Q2 place on his final lap in the first part of qualifying, but ultimately came up short with a 1m31.426s in 13th.
That will convert to 16th for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix, after he was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding in Practice on Friday.
LCR Honda’s Diogo Moreira was 14th after a late crash at Turn 7, while Brad Binder could only manage 15th on his factory team KTM.
Alex Rins couldn’t follow Yamaha team-mate Quartararo into Q2 and will start 16th in Saturday’s sprint, with Luca Marini only 17th on the sister factory team Honda.
Jack Miller was 18th on the leading Pramac Yamaha, with Tech3 KTM’s Maverick Vinales, Yamaha test rider Augusto Fernandez, LCR Honda stand-in Cal Crutchlow and Pramac’s Toprak Razgatlioglu completing the grid.
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