Bagnaia dominates the MotoGP sprint for the second time in a row! In Assen, he won easily ahead of the World Championship leader Martín

After a four-week spring break forced by the postponement of the Kazakhstan GP, the MotoGP circus has moved to arguably the most traditional circuit on the calendar in Assen, the Netherlands. Saturday’s sprint, in which Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia reigned supreme in dominant style, kicked off the racing programme in the most prestigious class. The reigning world champion was joined by this year’s championship leader Jorge Martín and Maverick Viñales of Aprilia.

The eighth round of the World Road Motorcycle Championship takes place at the track near Assen, which was the only one on the calendar for the first ever edition of the series in 1949. Outside of the coronavirus-affected 2020 season, the Dutch Tourist Trophy has hosted premier class races every time. In the last two years, current reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia has reigned supreme.

It was the 27-year-old Italian riding on the saddle of a factory Ducati motorcycle who found no conqueror this year before the start of the sprint race. Bagnaia won all the practice sessions, and added a triumph in the morning qualifying. Championship leader Jorge Martín was less than a tenth of a second behind his main rival for the world title. Third-placed Maverick Viñales was already more than four tenths down on Aprilia.

Bagnaia easily in the lead, Márquez falls

The two biggest contenders for this year’s title in the top two positions at the start? It promised to be a close and fairly fierce battle for the all-important points. Bagnaia, however, immediately looked after Martín after pitting from pole position and led him and a superbly-starting Álex Márquez into the first corner. Fortunately for Viñales, the Spaniard did not repeat his traditional drops after lights out, but still the factory Aprilia driver lost ground to the aforementioned younger Márquez.

The third of the direct title candidates, Márquez senior, had a bad qualifying session after crashing at the very end of it. However, the eight-time champion shot well from his seventh position on the grid to move up to fifth during the first round. Meanwhile, at the front, Martín chasing Bagnaiu failed to make an ideal pass through turn eight. With this miss, the Pramac Ducati rider lost a few tenths on the sprint leader, but did not lose any position.

The start of the second lap, however, brought the first drama of Saturday’s sprint in Assen. Marc Márquez crashed on an overly aggressive run through turn two. Like Martín last time in Mugello, the third man in the current overall standings threw away important championship points.

The withdrawal of Márquez opened up the possibility for Bagnaii and Martín to pull away from the 31-year-old Spaniard in the drivers’ championship. Martín himself, however, was eager for another sprint win and pressed Bagnaia in the first quarter of the short race. While that was happening, Viñales attacked Álex Márquez into the final section of the circuit at the end of the second lap and took back the third place he lost at the start.

Bagnaia at the front stretches the field, racing action only past the top 3

It was clear from lap three that Bagnaia and Martín were going to be in a league of their own. They confirmed this with a consistent fastest lap from the second circuit. While Viñales outperformed the less successful Márquez in the battle for the bronze medal, he was barely enough for the leading duo. On just the fourth lap of thirteen, Martín gained a full second on his compatriot, while Bagnai continued to put solid pressure on him with a gap of around half a second.

The gap between the top 3 slowly increased with each sector. This meant that spectators could only enjoy the on-track action between riders from fourth place onwards. Márquez found himself under pressure from KTM’s Brad Binder for dropping to fourth. The South African almost let it go before his Spanish rival in a chicane at the end of the circuit, but it was not a successful manoeuvre.

Lap five brought the first retirement. Luca Marini, circling at the back of the field, was betrayed by his factory Honda’s technician and Aprilia test driver Lorenzo Savadori fell. As the second half of the sprint approached, a group formed behind third-placed Viñales, led by Márquez, who was followed in turn by Binder, Enea Bastianini, Aleix Espargaró and Fabio Di Giannantonio. Bagnai’s fellow factory Ducati teammate Bastianini was looking for a way to get ahead of fifth-placed Binder until lap nine, when the Italian successfully made his way past him at turn five.

Bastianini didn’t wait for anything and took care of fourth-placed Márquez on the same lap. While Bastianini gained two positions in one lap, Binder lost two positions in the same interval. In the chicane of turns sixteen to eighteen he lost a place to Espargaro.

Espargaro’s crash ends the sprint with Bagnaia as the winner

The double overtake at the end of the track didn’t end the action in the bunch for fourth position. Espargaro enjoyed only a small taste of fifth when he made a mistake at the first corner of lap 10 and dropped to eighth. In those moments, Bagnaia enjoyed a lead of more than one and a half seconds. Second placed Martín maintained a similar cushion over Viñales, who with a three second cushion could start dreaming of another sprint podium.

However, track limits came into play late in the race. Raúl Fernández was the first culprit, receiving a long lap penalty for repeated infractions. However, the greater emphasis on the outcome of the sprint was the penalty for Álex Márquez. However, the Gresini Ducati rider did not manage to take the same penalty before the end of the race, and so a time penalty of three seconds landed on his head after the sprint had ended.

The winner of the sprint, and indeed the men on the podium, was, it could be said, decided in the opening laps. Bagnaia easily dominated the second short race in a row ahead of Martín and Viñales. However, at the moment Bagnaia was crossing the line for the last time, Espargaró crashed heavily in the extremely fast left-hander at turn 15. The 34-year-old was visibly shaken by the accident, but fortunately Espargaró walked away from the scene of the crash, with the help of the marshals nonetheless.

The Dutch sprint win pulled Bagnaiu again a little closer to overall leader Martín. Slightly surprising points were taken by seventh-placed Fabio Quartararo on the Yamaha. On the other hand, Pedro Acosta failed to score any points from the sprint for the first time in his MotoGP career.

Results of the sprint at the Dutch TT MotoGP (13 laps = 59.046 km; top 10 only):

1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 19:58.090
2. Jorge Martín (Span., Ducati) +2.355
3. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) +4.103
4. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) +6.377
5. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) +8.869
6. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) +9.727
7. Fabio Quartararo (Fra., Yamaha) +10.828
8. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) +13.196
9. Franco Morbidelli (Ita., Ducati) +13.560
10. Pedro Acosta (Span., KTM) +15.972

2024 MotoGP rider standings (top 10 only):

1. Jorge Martín (Span., Ducati) 180 points
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 165
3. Marc Márquez (Spa., Ducati) 136
4. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) 120
5. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) 107
6. Pedro Acosta (Span., KTM) 101
7. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) 89
8. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia) 82
9. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) 79
10. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) 53

Sources: MotoGP, X