Dutch MotoGP, Assen – Race Results

* Rookie

Reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia signs off for the summer break with his fourth grand prix win of the season in Sunday’s Dutch MotoGP at Assen.

The factory Ducati star passed KTM’s Brad Binder to take the early lead, then kept just out of reach when Sprint winner Marco Bezzecchi moved into second place.

Binder fought a rearguard action to repel Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Pramac’s Jorge Martin and looked to have claimed the podium he was denied, after a post-race penalty, on Saturday…

But incredibly, Binder was given another post-race penalty on Sunday, for exceeding track limits on the last lap in exactly the same place as yesterday, and dropped to fourth!

Espargaro thus took his first podium of the year and Aprilia’s second since Maverick Vinales at the Portimao opener.

Just like yesterday! @BradBinder_33 exceeded track limits on the last lap and loses third place! #DutchGP lzQaRfZOz7

— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) June 25, 2023

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Binder snatched the holeshot from fifth on the grid and kept the Ducatis at bay until Bagnaia’s red machine squeezed past on lap 3 of 26.

Bagnaia, Binder and Bezzecchi then began to edge away from the Aprilia of Espargaro, who in turn was the target of Jorge Martin and Alex Marquez.

Binder, running the soft rear tyre compared to the medium on the Ducatis on either side of him, kept Bagnaia in range until ten laps to go, when the leading Italian began to edge away.

Bezzecchi saw the danger and swiftly passed Binder, then doggedly tried to hunt down the #1 Ducati over the remaining laps, but Bagnaia remained just out of reach.

Espargaro meanwhile was rewarded with a surprise rostrum after battling on with a broken front wing, following opening lap contact with Luca Marini.

Binder’s team-mate Jack Miller made strong progress from twelfth to seventh on the opening lap, but then lost the front of his KTM at the first corner of lap 2.

Fabio Quartararo, who inherited a podium on Saturday after Binder’s post-race penalty, had been fastest in the warm-up but slumped from fourth on the grid to twelfth at the start.

Worse was to follow a few laps later when the Monster Yamaha rider lost the front of the M1 at high speed through Turn 7, wiping out countryman Johann Zarco in the process.

Zarco sportingly went to assist Quartararo, already riding with ankle and toe injuries, as he lay in the gravel. Quartararo eventually limped away with the aid of marshals.

Maverick Vinales was closing in on team-mate Aleix Espargaro in fourth when he lost the front of his Aprilia and ed out, on lap 4.

“4

Enea Bastianini slid out of eighth at the hairpin soon after, with Miguel Oliveira, Iker Lecuona and Fabio di Giannantonio also joining the DNF list.

After withdrawing from last Sunday’s German MotoGP race, following a fifth fall of the weekend, causing thumb and rib fractures and a hard knock to the ankle in warm-up, Marc Marquez was back on track at Assen but could only qualify 17th, where he finished the Sprint, before withdrawing on Sunday morning due to worsening pain from his rib.

Team-mate Joan Mir remained sidelined by hand injuries from Mugello and was replaced by Honda World Superbike rider Iker Lecuona, who spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons in MotoGP with Tech3 KTM. Lecuona previously joined Repsol Honda at Jerez this year, in place of Marquez.

LCR’s Alex Rins was absent after fracturing his leg at Mugello, and replaced by HRC test rider Stefan Bradl. KTM test rider Jonas Folger continued in place of Pol Espargaro at GASGAS Tech3.

Monster Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo sprained his left ankle and fractured a toe in a jogging accident while training in Amsterdam. Aleix Espargaro continued to ride with right heel and rib fractures from his bicycle at Mugello earlier this month.

Assen is the final event before the MotoGP summer break, albeit with 12 of the 20 rounds still to go, starting at Silverstone in early August.