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Yamaha bikes had a good outing today! While Movistar Yamaha MotoGP continued to assert their dominance, Repsol Honda came back with a bang – former double world champion Marc Marquez, who is fresh off an injury and crashing out of the Grand Prix at Catalunya, finished the first Free Practice session at the Dutch MotoGP in Assen in 2nd. The 22-year-old holds the record for the best lap at the circuit, which he set at the Grand Prix in 2014. He did not have a strong beginning today, however, falling off his bike inside the first 45 minutes of the race. He won last year’s race and will look to defend his title in Assen this weekend.
Marquez was overshadowed by the Doctor himself, however. Valentino Rossi, who is currently atop the leaderboard in the drivers’ championship standings, also set the fastest lap of the day. Marquez’s teammate and compatriot Dani Pedrosa was behind him in 3rd. Pedrosa put in a strong performance following serious surgery for an arm-pump issue that has been a source of constant pain for the rider. At the last Grand Prix in Barcelona, Pedrosa finished third – his first podium of the year,
Suzuki Ecstar teammates Maverick Vinales and Aleix Esparargo, who were the standout revelations at qualifying at the previous MotoGP in Catalunya, did well this practice session too, finishing in 7th and 8th respectively.
Ducati finished lower than usual today, with both Andreas relatively down the grid compared to their previous performances. Dovizioso finished FP1 in 9th, with Iannone in 13th. This is out of routine for Iannone, who despite recovering from a hairline fracture, won his career-first pole position at the Italian MotoGP this year, which he finished in 2nd behind a charging Lorenzo.
Pack leader Rossi has had 12 podium finishes in Assen across categories – of these, 7 were wins. Only one of these wins, however, has come in the past 5 years. Rossi has had a stellar year, with a podium finish every race of the season. Although he won the inaugural MotoGP of the year at Losail in Qatar, and the Argentine Grand Prix, he has largely been overshadowed by teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who has now won all of the last four races on the trot.
Lorenzo’s back-to-back wins have now put him neck-and-neck with Rossi in the drivers’ standings – Rossi stands at 138 points, with Lorenzo at 137. Rossi is known for strong finishes following a much weaker show at qualifying, so his performance at practice and qualifying sessions is not necessarily an indicator of his performance on race day – he came back from an 8th place race start to take 2nd at the Catalan MotoGP. He said the team would be “trying a new frame” to see if it worked for them.
Marquez looked forward to the race, saying “Of course after the last two races we need a good result. Assen is a track I like, last year was good but it was also a mixed weather race. Two years ago Vale and Jorge were very strong. We’ll have to see how this weekend goes. We have a good confidence, unfortunately the Barcelona test was raining so we couldn’t try everything but we’ll try to do our best.”
Weather forecasts for race weekend at Assen indicate rain to come:
Jorge Lorenzo has had issues with rain in the past while teammate and strongest competitor Rossi flourishes in wet conditions. Lorenzo has previously said he is "scared" of Assen, following an accident in 2013 at the track where he broke his collarbone during a practice session ahead of that year’s Grand Prix.
Is it possible that Rossi will seize his lead again, or will Lorenzo again capitalise on his massive winning streak to take a 5th win this year? If he does, the Spaniard will be atop the leaderboard to potentially win the drivers’ championship. He last held the title in 2012.
