Vinales storms to pole at Assen as he leads dominant Yamaha 1-2

Maverick Vinales stormed to his first pole position of the year at Assen as he defeated team-mate Fabio Quartararo to lead a commanding Yamaha 1-2 for the Dutch TT.

Vinales looked to have lost a step to Quartararo having dominated the weekend up to qualifying, the Frenchman firing in an all-new lap record for the Assen venue on the final push lap of his opening run with a 1:31.922, just under a tenth quicker than his own 2019 record.

The series leader’s electrifying speed saw him hold a 0.491s gap over second-placed Vinales by the time the 12 Q2 competitors returned to the pits for fresh rubber, with Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco a strong third having escaped Q1 just minutes earlier.

Vinales was keen not to be upstaged by Quartararo though as he came out swinging at the start of his final run, the Qatar Grand Prix victor posting a blistering 1:31.814s to snatch back provisional pole by just over a tenth, though Quartararo still had another effort up his sleeve.

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The 15-time pole-man looked to have an edge over Vinales on his last run as he posted a first sector nearly two-tenths up, though a bobble in the third sector gave away a crucial few tenths that would ultimately see him fail to improve, allowing Vinales to breathe easy and soak in a first pole of the year as he looks to banish the poor form that has plagued him in recent events.   

Quartararo therefore will start second behind his team-mate, while Francesco Bagnaia won out in the battle for best-of-the-rest to complete the front row.

Zarco looked to have the best pedigree to grab the spot but consistently made errors during his best efforts, with Takaaki Nakagami’s LCR Honda having shot up to third with a clean final gambit from the Japanese ace.

Bagnaia though had a little more in hand as he banged in a time three-tenths off Vinales’ benchmark to grab third ahead of Nakagami, while Zarco ended up fifth.

Miguel Oliveira was sixth on the sole KTM present in the pole shootout ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins, who missed out on a chance to improve thanks to a late crash.

Jack Miller will start eighth on the second factory Ducati ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, with reigning MotoGP world champion Joan Mir completing the top ten.

Pol Espargaro failed to keep the strong performance he has enjoyed throughout the weekend so far on his way to 11^th, with Valentino Rossi 12^th as the final man in the shootout.

Iker Lecuona just missed out on a first Q2 appearance of the year after being denied by a late flyer from Zarco, the Tech 3 KTM man just ahead of Pramac’s Jorge Martin-the Spaniard starting the Dutch TT as the highest rookie on the grid-and Lorenzo Savadori.

Marc Marquez struggled to find a rhythm following his heavy crash during Friday practice and looked set to miss out on a Q2 promotion anyway, his fate sealed by a crash at Turn 9 towards the session’s climax.

This left the German GP winner just 20^th ahead of Brad Binder, the South African once again suffering to find a good feeling with his RC16 in qualifying, while Garrett Gerloff made further progress as Franco Morbidelli’s stand-in down in 22^nd as he lapped only 1.2 seconds from Bagnaia’s Q1 benchmark.