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Marco Bezzecchi completed a clean sweep of practice and qualifying at the Dutch TT to clinch pole at Assen with a blistering new lap record.
The VR46 Ducati rider recorded the quickest ever lap round the iconic Grand Prix track in 1:31.472s for his first pole since Thailand in 2022.
Beleaguered Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez crashed again in Q1 after hitting Ducati’s Enea Bastianini and is down in 17th position on the grid.
Bezzecchi had opened with the quickest lap of the weekend in Q2 in 1:31.874s as he continued to set the pace. The Italian – third in the title standings – was also fastest in third practice earlier after leading Friday’s sessions on the VR46 Ducati and underpinned his dominance on the Desmosedici further in the final minutes to put down a marker ahead of the Sprint race.
Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia slotted into second on the factory Lenovo Ducati, only 0.061s behind Bezzecchi.
Luca Marini showed his hand as he moved to third before crashing out at high speed at Turn 8 on the VR46 Ducati, bringing out the yellow flags.
However, he held on to his front row spot, with his time 0.158s slower than Bezzecchi’s benchmark.
Fabio Quartararo had led the way briefly on the Monster Energy Yamaha with four minutes to go with a 1:31.770s lap and eventually secured fourth on the grid for his best qualifying result of the season.
Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder was fifth fastest as he completed the second row along with Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro, whose team-mate Maverick Viñales heads up row three in seventh.
Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco, Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Jorge Martin finalised the top 10.
Martin slid off at Turn 5 and left his bike to run back to the pits, returning to the track on his spare Pramac Ducati to record a time.
Aussie Jack Miller was 12th on the Red Bull KTM ahead of Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia).
World Superbike rider Iker Lecuona, in for injured Joan Mir in the Repsol Honda squad, was 22nd while HRC test rider Stefan Bradl, deputising for LCR Honda injury absentee Alex Rins, was 20th.
Earlier, there was more qualifying drama when Marquez collided with Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati) and crashed out.
Bastianini had pulled out of a fast lap to prevent the Honda rider from getting a tow.
The Italian made a mistake at the first corner and was touring when he slowed off at Turn 4, where Marquez ran into his Ducati and went down.
Marquez had set his fastest lap of the weekend on his first fast lap but it was Takaaki Nakagami who held the top spot early on the LCR Honda.
The Japanese rider was then bumped back by Oliveira, before Zarco set the first sub 1:32s lap of the weekend.
The French rider’s time was enough to seal his passage to Q2 along with Oliveira.
