Francesco Bagnaia’s strong showing in Assen continues and once again he finished the session top of the MotoGP classification heading into qualifying, with Maverick Vinales and Pedro Acosta following.
The double reigning champion appeared bullish and posted a competitive 1.31.670s to top the session, with 0.321s separated between the top three.
The final practice session before qualifying saw riders try out their respective setups for the Sprint later this afternoon, with qualifying coming right after once more.
2023 Sprint race winner Marco Bezzecchi ran wide before having a high-speed crash on his next run in Turn 7, leaving the Italian rider confused about what went wrong with his bike setup.
Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez lost the front at the same corner later in the session in a carbon-copy crash of Bezzecchi’s.
The practice session was soon red-flagged due to gravel being on the racing line heading into Turn 7, providing a safety caution for any further crashes at the fast corner sequence.
With ten minutes left on the clock, all riders went out to maximise lap times with the time left.
Vinales continued on from Friday to show his raw speed to take it to the factory Ducati leader Bagnaia, with rookie sensation Acosta formulating his best lap time of the weekend thus far.
Marc Marquez opted for a soft rear tyre on his last lap and was quicker in every sector but elected to abort the lap in the end. His final position saw him fourth ahead of Pramac duo Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli.
Fabio Di Giannantonio continued his strong competitiveness this weekend with a seventh-place finish overall, with Alex Marquez finishing only 0.009s behind in eighth.
Despite his high-speed crash Fernandez put himself in ninth ahead of factory Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo put his bike in 11th ahead of KTM’s Jack Miller and factory Ducati’s Enea Bastianini.
Marco Bezzecchi finished 1.000s behind the leader in 14th in a session that could impact his weekend due to any potential injuries, with Brad Binder finishing in a lowly 15th.
Miguel Oliveira’s 16th was all he could produce on his Trackhouse bike, finishing ahead of 2020 champion Joan Mir, who delivered an improved 17th for his Japanese marque Honda.
Alex Rins struggled on Yamaha once more with a lacklustre 18th, with Johann Zarco the lead LCR Honda in 19th.
Aprilia wildcard Lorenzo Savadori separated the LCR Hondas with Taakaki Nakagami in 21st, ahead of Luca Marini in second-last.
Augusto Fernandez’s performance hit rock bottom as he rounded off proceedings.
