Ducati Lenovo's Bagnaia and Márquez Secure Q2 at Assen: Bagnaia Fifth, Márquez Sixth
Francesco Bagnaia finished fifth and Marc Márquez sixth in Practice at the TT Circuit Assen, both advancing directly to Saturday's Q2 qualifying session.
- 5th
- 6th
- 0.062s
What Happened
The Ducati Lenovo Team completed the opening day of the tenth Grand Prix at the TT Circuit Assen. Bagnaia finished fifth after overcoming a lap deletion and red flags, while Márquez recovered from a morning crash to finish sixth, just 0.062 seconds behind his teammate.
0.062s
Márquez was only 0.062s behind Bagnaia in Practice.
“It was a bit of a roller-coaster session. I was expecting a bit more in the first outing with the soft tyre, but a modification to the set-up didn't work as we'd hoped, so we reverted to the previous settings while also opting for the medium rear tyre. In the third run, with the used medium tyre, the feeling was better. I wasn't feeling too confident with the rear-end in the first time attack, whi”
“I'm happy and I feel good. The goal was to finish Practice in the top ten and we managed to do so, despite the fact that this has never been an easy track for me, even when I was fully fit. We know that our main rivals are very competitive at this circuit, so the goal is to lose as few points as possible. We need to keep working to bridge the gap, and then we'll see how high we can aim this weeken”
Why this matters
Direct entry to Q2 gives Bagnaia and Márquez a better chance at a front-row starting position for the MotoGP sprint and main race.
Terms in This Story
- Q2
- The second qualifying session in MotoGP, determining starting positions for the top 12 riders.
- FP1
- First free practice session, typically used for initial setup and track familiarization.
- Sprint
- A short race held on Saturday, typically half the distance of the main race, awarding championship points.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.