2022 Dutch MotoGP, Assen – Free Practice (4) Results

TIMES TO FOLLOW

* Rookie
Official Assen MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 33.617s (2015)
Fastest race lap:
Fabio Quartararo FRA Yamaha 1m 32.869s (2021)

Fabio Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia duke it out for the top spot during final practice for the 2022 Dutch MotoGP, as dark clouds begin to gather at Assen.

Medium tyres were the favoured choice as teams crammed as much race preparation into the 30-minute session as possible, following Friday’s wet weather, but some soft compounds (front and rear) and also the hard rears also made an appearance.

Quartararo led the timesheets for the first time this weekend on his final lap with the medium front and hard rear, with Bagnaia just 0.1s slower on the soft-hard rubber.

Jack Miller was best of the rest in third on soft-soft tyres, with Aleix Espargaro fourth for Aprilia on medium-soft.

Qualifying 1, for those outside the top ten after third free practice, will now get underway.

Fabio Quartararo starts the Dutch TT at Assen, the final event before the MotoGP summer break, holding a 34-point lead over Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and 61-point advantage over Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco.

That means, whatever happens on Sunday, the Yamaha star will remain at the head of the world championship table during the holidays, but the young Frenchman would no doubt love to close the opening ‘half’ with a repeat of last year’s Assen victory.

While Quartararo has built up breathing room at the top, the likes of Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini (-72 points) and especially factory Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia have suffered badly in recent rounds and will be desperate to steady the ship with a podium return in The Netherlands.

A dark horse could be Espargaro’s team-mate Maverick Vinales, who finished second to then team-mate Quartararo (from pole position) at Assen last season and arrives fresh from his best race showing on the RS-GP, until hitting ride height problems in Germany.

Franco Morbidelli will have a long lap penalty for the race after twice riding slowly on the racing line in Friday practice, after having received a verbal warning for the same offence at Sachsenring.

Alex Rins is returning to action after being forced to abandon a comeback from his fractured wrist at Sachsenring last weekend. However, after severe pain from his injured ribs on Friday, Pol Espargaro has withdrawn from the remainder of the Assen event.

Meanwhile, the notorious Assen weather is set to keep riders and teams on their toes throughout the weekend.

“4

Friday 24 June

8am-8.40am – Moto3 Free Practice 1

8.55am-9.40am – MotoGP Free Practice 1

9.55am-10.35am – Moto2 Free Practice 1

12.15pm -12.55pm – Moto3 Free Practice 2

1.10pm-1.55pm – MotoGP Free Practice 2

2.10pm-2.50pm – Moto2 Free Practice 2

Saturday 25 June

8am-8.40am – Moto3 Free Practice 3

8.55am-9.40am – MotoGP Free Practice 3

9.55am-10.35am – Moto2 Free Practice 3

11.35am-11.50am – Moto3 Qualifying 1

12pm-12.15pm – Moto3 Qualifying 2

12.30-1pm – MotoGP Free Practice 4

1.10pm-1.25pm – MotoGP Qualifying 1

1.35pm-1.50pm – MotoGP Qualifying 2

2.10pm-2.25pm – Moto2 Qualifying 1

2.35pm-2.50pm – Moto2 Qualifying 2

Sunday 26 June

8am-8.10am – Moto3 warm-up

8.20am-8.30am – Moto2 warm-up

8.40am-9am – MotoGP warm-up

10am – Moto3 race

11.20am – Moto2 race

1pm – MotoGP race