Jorge Martin celebrates “emotional” Aprilia MotoGP pole, escapes yellow flag infringement

Jorge Martin will keep his maiden Aprilia MotoGP pole position despite failing to respect yellow flags during final practice at Assen.

Martin achieved a personal best sector time in FP2 while passing through yellow flag signals.

“For the safety of everyone, riders must demonstrate a reduction in speed in any sector where yellow signals are displayed,” read a penalty statement from the FIM MotoGP Stewards.

Official Warning

However, since it was Martin's first yellow flag offence of the season, he received an 'Official Warning' and will not face any grid penalties or a repeat of the double long lap last weekend at Brno, for causing a Turn 1 accident in Hungary.

Martin, who led a historic Aprilia top-four sweep in qualifying, said in parc ferme:

“To get my first pole position with Aprilia here in Assen, the Cathedral, is so emotional.

“I think a pole position in Assen is one of the biggest things you can make in a career. I'm so happy.

“Today will be a difficult race. It seems like Marco's a bit ahead of us. But we are closing that gap. So, let's try to understand how to be better in the Sprint.”

Team-mate and championship leader Marco Bezzecchi had topped all three practice sessions before qualifying.

However, the Italian, who was banned from last weekend's Brno Grand Prix, lost his best lap because of yellow flags caused by a technical issue for KTM's Pedro Acosta and was left third on the grid.

“Qualifying was good, and my pace is also good, so I'm satisfied about the performance,” said the MotoGP title leader.

“Unfortunately, I met a yellow flag in my best attempt. But it's like this.

“At the end, the first row is super important. I'm very happy, very proud for how the guys worked this weekend. So, thanks to them. And now we think about the Sprint.”

Bezzecchi will start with an eight-point championship lead over Martin.

Splitting the factory RS-GPs on the front row will be Trackhouse Aprilia's Brno pole-sitter Ai Ogura.

“Another good qualifying,” said the Japanese. “We knew we were quite competitive yesterday, but always qualifying is a bit tricky. It seems that everybody is going fast on this track, so we'll see how it goes in Sprint.”

Team-mate Raul Fernandez set the fastest lap of qualifying, but was demoted from pole after exceeding track limits and will line up at the head of row two alongside the Ducatis of Pecco Bagnaia and Fabio di Giannantonio.

Reigning champion Marc Marquez could manage only seventh.