Viñales prevails over Marquez at Assen

Maverick Viñales has broken a nine-race winless run dating back to 2018 for Yamaha by overcoming Marc Marquez to win the Dutch TT at Assen.

Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha) was not perfect across the 26-lap race but crept away from the championship leader once he reclaimed first position with just over eight laps remaining.

Marquez (Repsol Honda) ended up a somewhat lonely second position, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas SRT Yamaha) finished on the podium after leading on multiple occasions, and Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) bagged fourth position from 11th on the grid.

Alex Rins crashed while at the head of the field and Valentino Rossi went down further back in the pack on Lap 5.

Rins had led away from the outside of the front row, with Suzuki Ecstar team-mate Joan Mir slotting into second, ahead of Viñales, pole-sitter Quartararo, and Marquez.

Dovizioso to seventh almost immediately, and passed factory Ducati team-mate Danilo Petrucci before the end of the standing lap.

Quartararo, meanwhile, had nabbed third position from Viñales at the fourth corner, leading to battles in the early laps between Quartararo and Mir for second, and between Viñales and Marquez for fourth.

Rins threw away the lead when his front wheel washed away into De Bult on Lap 3, and Mir dropped from a short-lived first position to fourth when he ran wide at Turn 15 on the same lap.

Quartararo therefore assumed top spot, while Viñales handed over second position to Marquez when he ran the #12 factory Yamaha wide at Turn 8 on Lap 4, shortly after Dovizioso passed Mir for fourth.

Dovizioso closed in on the top three and Viñales kept in touch with Marquez until he ran long at the start of Lap 10, just before Petrucci got through Mir at the Strubben.

Quartararo had been experiencing significant trouble with front end stability on the Veenslang straight, and when his Yamaha bucked again on Lap 11, Marquez seized the lead.

Marquez was wide at Turn 1 on Lap 12 and Quartararo rode through the gap, before a recovering Viñales overtook the factory Honda into the Timmer chicane on Lap 14.

When Quartararo was loose again onto the back straight on Lap 16, Viñales took advantage but Marquez had to wait, although he did get a move done before the end of the lap.

He made another when Viñales struggled to pull up at Turn 1 on Lap 18, but the Yamaha rider re-passed the #93 Honda at Turn 13.

Quartararo was fading by then, and the top three strung out thereafter, with Viñales taking victory by 4.854s.

“It feels amazing,” said Viñales on taking his and Yamaha’s first win since Phillip Island last October.

“Honestly, Assen is one of the tracks I like more on the calendar.

“I have no words, I just want to congratulate the team because they did a great job, all the fans there that I feel all the passion and all the support, so they were giving me a little bit more.

“I’m so excited, right now I’m living my dream, because it’s such a long period without victory.”

Dovizioso lost touch with the lead group around the halfway mark and even fell back to sixth, behind Petrucci and Mir, for a short period of time.

The two red bikes and Mir ran together for a handful of laps, occasionally exchanging positions, until Dovizioso and Petrucci both overtook the Suzuki on Lap 22.

Petrucci again briefly got ahead of Dovizioso but found himself passed by Franco Morbidelli (Petronas SRT Yamaha) for fifth into the Timmer chicane on the final lap.

Cal Crutchlow finished seventh on his Castrol LCR Honda, as a struggling Mir found himself touring the gravel late in the race on his way to eighth.

Jack Miller finished ninth on the lead Pramac Ducati, a position he held for the latter 23 laps after running 11th early on, while Gresini Aprilia’s Andrea Iannone rounded out the top 10.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pol Espargaro was the Austrian marque’s best in 11th.

Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha) was just outside the top 10 when he and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu LCR Honda) went down after contact into Turn 8.

Johann Zarco was the other retirement, pitting his factory KTM not far beyond half distance.

Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda) did not make it past Free Practice 1 on Friday, when he fractured two vertebrae in a nasty crash at Turn 7.

Marquez’s championship lead sits at 44 points over Dovizioso on the way to Germany’s Sachsenring for Round 9 next weekend (July 5-7).

Race results: Dutch TT

Race winner: 26 laps

Championship points