Francesco Bagnaia dominates Assen MotoGP Race

After winning the Sprint, the Ducati Team rider led another 26 laps around the Assen circuit to take victory in the grand prix Race by a margin of 3.676s over his Pramac-entered stablemate.

Enea Bastianini made for both Ducati Team entries on the podium, with Marc Marquez fourth on a Gresini Ducati after a final-lap error by Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Viñales.

The latter lost another place due to a track limits penalty, meaning an all-Ducati top five rounded out by VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, with Viñales Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder finishing seventh.

UPDATE: Marc Marquez receives tyre pressure penalty

Rounding out the top 10 were Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia), and Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati), with Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) 11th.

For the second day in a row, Bagnaia nailed the holeshot and converted pole position into a clear lead by the first corner.

Martin started fifth due to a grid penalty for impeding Raul Fernandez in qualifying but jumped to third when the lights went out.

He had erased the penalty completely with an overtake of Viñales for second place at Stekkenwal on the standing lap, before Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) snatched third from the Aprilia rider on Lap 2 at De Strubben.

Bagnaia, though, was a full second up on Martin after five laps, before Di Giannantonio sped past Viñales for fourth place at the Timmer chicane at the end of Lap 6.

Di Giannantonio passed Marc Marquez for third place at De Bult on Lap 8 although, curiously, the Gresini rider appeared to have handed over the position.

Ahead, Martin was trying but struggling to pare Bagnaia’s lead back to less than one second and keep it there.

‘The Martinator’ was something of an outlier in selecting the medium compound of front Michelin tyre, with the rest of the front-runners on the hard, and saw the deficit to Bagnaia grow beyond two seconds on Lap 20.

Meanwhile, positions third through fifth had been reversed at De Bult on Lap 19 when Di Giannantonio ran slightly wide, Marc Marquez propped, and Viñales sliced between them.

Next time through Haarbocht, Bastianini went under Di Giannantonio to relegate his compatriot to sixth.

Bastianini wrested fourth from Marc Marquez at the same corner on Lap 21, the duo making contact on the way through right-hander.

Di Giannantonio then overtook #93 at De Strubben, only for Marc Marquez to fire straight back past at Ruskenhoek.

Bastianini’s progress continued with a move on Viñales at the Timmer chicane on Lap 22, putting #23 in the podium positions.

At the very front, Bagnaia’s lead was holding at about two seconds but blew out even more in the final laps.

Bastianini passed Viñales for third on Lap 22 at the Timmer chicane and then the Aprilia pilot ran wide at the Ramshoek on the final lap.

That error cost him fourth to Marc Marquez before he also touched the green paint at the Timmer chicane and thus automatically lost another spot in the classification.

Pedro Acosta (GasGas Tech3) had already crashed out of seventh on the final lap at Turn 7, joining Joan Mir (Repsol Honda), Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati), and Alex Rins as DNFs, the latter after a big highside at the very first corner.

Aprilia Racing had Aleix Espargaro and Lorenzo Savadori both withdraw before the race due to injuries sustained in crashes on the afternoon prior.

The season continues next weekend (July 5-7) at Germany’s Sachsenring.

Race results: Grand Prix race

Race winner: 26 laps

Riders’ championship