Yamaha's Quartararo pips Ducatis to clinch Dutch Grand Prix pole
Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo claimed his fourth pole position of the season in qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday while Ducati's MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez will start on the second row.
Quartararo is joined on the front row by Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia and Gresini Racing's Alex Marquez while Marc was only fourth fastest at Assen, where he crashed twice in practice on a bruising Friday.
Marc leads brother Alex by 40 points heading into the sprint while Bagnaia, third in the championship, is 110 points behind. But the session belonged to Quartararo who clocked one minute and 30.651 seconds to claim his 20th MotoGP pole.
'The goal is to try to make a great start, great laps in the sprint and see a little bit how it's going on,' Quartararo said.
'I love this track ... So hopefully we can turn this pole position into a great result on Saturday and on Sunday.'
As expected, it was the Ducati machines of the Marquez brothers and Bagnaia who traded fastest laps early in the session but Quartararo laid down the gauntlet when he clocked one minute and 31.047 seconds.
Alex and Marc then broke the one minute and 31 seconds barrier but Quartararo and Bagnaia responded by going faster to take the top two spots.
A desperate Marc pushed too hard on his final lap and went off track, settling for fourth-fastest, marking only the second time he is off the front row on the red Ducati, while Alex was livid with himself when he could not set a faster lap.
Bagnaia has won at Assen in the last three years and the Italian said he was happy with the feeling on the bike after struggling early in the season, with the twice champion claiming only one victory in the first nine rounds.
'I'm very happy. It's the best weekend so far this season ... Surely this afternoon will be tough but we need to start well, set our pace and see if I can win,' Bagnaia said.
Marc will have Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi and VR46 Racing's Franco Morbidelli for company on the second row.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
eNCA
2 hours ago
- eNCA
Pogba signs for Monaco, hoping to revive career
Paul Pogba has signed a two-year deal with Ligue 1 side Monaco to return to football after a near two-year absence, the club announced on Saturday. The 2018 World Cup winner has made only 12 appearances across the last three seasons due to injuries, an 18-month doping ban and an extortion case in which he was the victim. Pogba failed a drugs test in August 2023 after a match for Juventus and has been free to return to football since March, although his contract at the Italian giants had been terminated last year. The midfielder will now play club football in Ligue 1 for the first time in his professional career. "I am determined to get back on the pitch, mentally ready, physically ready, it's just a matter of time," the 32-year-old told French television last weekend. Pogba played in the Le Havre youth team before signing for Manchester United in 2009. He made only a handful of first-team appearances for the three-time European champions before signing for Juventus in 2012. Pogba won four consecutive Serie A titles in Turin before rejoining United for a then-world record 105 million euros ($123 million). He moved back to Juventus three years ago but struggled with a series of injuries. In 2024, his brother Mathias was sentenced to three years in prison, with two years suspended, for his role in a plot to extort 13 million euros from Pogba in 2022. Pogba has scored 11 goals in 91 appearances for the France national team, playing a starring role and scoring in their World Cup final victory over Croatia seven years ago.
TimesLIVE
3 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Norris on pole for Austrian Grand Prix, Piastri third
McLaren's Lando Norris bounced back from his collision in Canada to take a dominant Austrian Grand Prix pole position on Saturday while championship-leading team mate and title rival Oscar Piastri qualified third. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc joined Norris on the front row with seven-times world champion team mate Lewis Hamilton fourth, raising the Italian team's hopes after a difficult weekend so far. "It's nice to see the old me back, every now and then," quipped Norris over the team radio after going fastest with his first effort in the top-10 shootout and then doing even better with his second. Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen qualified only seventh at his team's home circuit after pulling out of his final flying effort when Alpine's Pierre Gasly spun at the last corner and briefly brought out yellow flags. Piastri was also forced to bale but had been slower than Norris, who was fastest throughout and in final practice, in both of the first two phases. Norris, who needs a strong result after a collision with Piastri in Canada two weeks ago, is 22 points behind the Australian in the championship after 10 of 24 races. "I did what I planned to do and when I plan to do something and it goes right, it normally goes very, very well," said Norris, whose pole time of 1:03.971 seconds was 0.521 quicker than Leclerc's lap. "The feeling I had today was a feeling I've missed for quite a long time, the feeling I have behind the wheel, in the car, the understanding of where the grip is and how to exploit it. That showed, gaining performance and in lap time." It was the biggest gap so far this season between first and second on the grid and the pole was the Briton's third of the campaign, after Australia and Monaco where he won both races with the fastest lap. "Lando has been very quick all weekend and it would have been a tough challenge (to beat him) but I think we easily had enough pace in the car this weekend to be on the front row," said Piastri. "But we still have some opportunities tomorrow. I'm not planning on finishing third, that's for sure."
TimesLIVE
6 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Marc Marquez rockets to ninth sprint victory of season at Dutch GP
Ducati's Marc Marquez brushed aside two practice crashes to storm to his ninth sprint victory of the season at the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday to extend his MotoGP championship lead despite starting fourth on the grid at Assen. Marquez finished ahead of his brother Alex of Gresini Racing and Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi claimed third place for his first sprint podium since 2023 while pole sitter Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha crashed with four laps to go. Marc extends his lead in the championship to 43 points over Alex going into Sunday's race while Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia, third in the championship, could only manage fifth place behind VR46 Racing's Fabio Di Giannantonio. The victory will give Marc a significant psychological boost after he crashed twice in Friday's practice, as he seeks a first race win at 'The Cathedral of Speed' since 2018. "Today we breathe a lot... because my body cannot accept another big crash like yesterday. Today I was just calm, trying to control the situations," Marc said. "It's true that I didn't expect the victory but I started fast and then I defended (my position). I tried not to make any big mistakes, didn't exaggerate. "The points are super important. Let's see tomorrow if we can manage that T3 (turn 3) and turn 11-12 - that is my weak point here in the circuit." Quartararo had claimed his fourth pole position of the season in qualifying earlier on Saturday and the Frenchman led the pack into turn one when the lights went out. However, he had to elbow Marc out of the way into turn one after the Spaniard had a blistering start off the line, with the Ducati rider leaning so close to him that his right shoulder briefly touched Quartararo's boot. Although he led for most of lap one, Quartararo could not match the pace of the Ducati bikes as Marc eventually took the lead in the final chicane, before Alex and Bezzecchi also overtook the Frenchman. Bagnaia, meanwhile, had qualified second-fastest but he found himself going backwards when fellow Italian Di Giannantonio overtook him and moved up to fifth at the halfway mark of the sprint. Marc nearly surrendered first place when he made a rare mistake and went wide, giving Alex an opportunity to pass him, but the elder Marquez brother quickly slammed the door shut to retain the lead. Quartararo was on the limit as he pushed hard to stay with the lead group and the Yamaha rider's sprint came to an end with four laps to go when he lost his balance at turn 10 and crashed. But up front, Marc was in complete control as he took the chequered flag ahead of Alex, who finished second behind his brother once again. "I'm a little bit frustrated but anyway I think we did a really good race, especially when he (Marc) was struggling in sector three," Alex said. "I was faster there, but to find space there is always difficult."
