A win and a second place is apparently all it has taken for Fabio Quartararo to gain the interest of a MotoGP team. Supposedly, foetal Petronas Yamaha team are in talks with the French youngster with the aim of acquiring the double CEV Repsol Moto3 champion to pilot one of their YZR-M1s for the 2019 season. The past two races have been very impressive from Quartararo, and he does have one more Moto2 win than Ecstar Suzuki’s 2019 rookie, Joan Mir. However, should two races grant you a pathway to MotoGP? You would say probably not, but there is no doubting Quartararo’s talent and, if he gets the ride, there is every possibility that he can make it work for him.
Another Moto2 rider in the frame for a Petronas Yamaha ride for next year is Lorenzo Baldassarri. Since his win in Jerez, the tall Italian has been quite inconsistent, but saw a return to form two weeks ago in Assen, where he fought back from thirteenth on the grid to second place, and was closing down race leader and eventual winner Pecco Bagnaia before the rear Dunlop on the back of the Stihl HP40 Pons Kalex let go with just a few laps remaining. Balda re-joined after pitting for a tyre but was one lap down and didn’t score any points. It was a big shame for the number 7, and it probably took him out of championship contention. However, the season is long, and Lorenzo will be keeping that in mind this weekend as he looks to return to the podium to prove that he is capable of fighting for this title, as well as being a solid pick for the satellite Yamaha team for next season.
Francesco Bagnaia at Assen. Image courtesy of Honda Pro racing.
Last year’s Moto2 German GP was won by Franco Morbidelli, but only narrowly. It didn’t look as though it would be that way; when Tom Luthi crashed out of second place early in the race in turn twelve it seemed that Morbidelli would enjoy another comfortable win, but Miguel Oliveira saw to that. The Portuguese rider closed the Italian within a few laps and pressured the eventual 2017 Moto2 World Champion until the final corner, although was unable to make a move stick.
This is positive for Oliveira in respect to this weekend, when he will look to recover from his worst weekend of 2018 in Assen, where he finished sixth, five seconds from winner Bagnaia. At the heart of the issues in Assen was the KTM chassis’ lack of ability to make a fresh soft tyre work on low fuel, which severely compromised both Oliveira’s and Red Bull KTM Ajo teammate Brad Binder’s respective races. In Assen, Oliveira qualified seventeenth, whilst Binder was twenty-first, and for the first time this season he was unable to make a full recovery in the first lap. Furthermore, Oliveira did not have the race pace of Bagnaia for the first time since Le Mans.
This weekend, it will be even more critical for Oliveira to qualify well than in Assen, because the high percentage of time at the Sachsenring that is spent on full lean angle makes it incredibly tough to overtake. If he is not there at the start it could be beyond him to recover and get to the front.
Francesco Bagnaia had no such problems in Assen. In fact, he had no problems at all in Assen. He took his second ever Moto2 pole, from which he took a lights-to-flag win with relative ease. Whilst it was Oliveira who finished second in Sachsenring last season, Bagnaia completed the podium with his third career Moto2 podium. Pecco towed up fellow Italians Simone Corsi and Mattia Pasini to the podium battle with him, but he stood his ground against his more experienced compatriots, and the pace he showed in last year’s race will fill the current championship leader with confidence as he looks to head into the pretty much non-existent summer break on a high.
Alex Marquez, teammate Joan Mir, Marcel Schrotter and Xavi Vierge should be up there this weekend too; the former two just because you’d expect it and the latter two because their recent pace has been quite electric, although a series three mistakes in five corners in Assen led to a crash for Vierge.
Especially Schrotter should be entertaining this weekend, as he looks to make up for a couple of missed opportunities for his maiden Moto2 podium in the last two races. Perhaps he will do as Pasini, and make his first Moto2 podium with a win in his home Grand Prix.
There is only one wildcard; Xavi Cardelus who, considering the action taken by Dorna over Jesko Raffin prior to this season, is perhaps quite lucky that he is still able to compete as a wildcard.
Francesco Bagnaia winner at Assen. Image courtesy of Honda Pro racing
From his second Moto2 pole position, Francesco Bagnaia dominated the 2018 Moto2 Dutch TT, taking a lights-to-flag win to reassure his position at the top of the championship standings.
Early on, it did not look like Bagnaia would be able to break away as had looked likely in free practice – Marcel Schrotter, Alex Marquez and Joan Mir were capable of keeping the Italian in sight. Or, at least they were for the first five or so laps. From that point, Bagnaia began to stretch his advantage, tenth by tenth, meter by meter, until he appeared out of reach. And so it proved, Bagnaia went unchallenged for 24 laps of the TT Assen circuit, and won without seeing so much as a wheel on his inside. It was a great way for Bagnaia to bounce back from his tyre-woe-induced eighth place in Barcelona, and it extended his championship lead over Miguel Oliveira to sixteen points. We knew Pecco loved Assen anyway, hence his tattoo of the circuit map, but with this result his adoration for the Dutch circuit is surely only increasing.
Francesco Bagnaia leading the moto2 race at Assen. Image courtesy of Honda pro racing
A win in Barcelona did little to prove the return of Fabio Quartararo to the front-running pace, but with a stunning second place in Assen, the affirmation of his rediscovered pace is assured. After a grid penalty for riding too slowly in qualifying dropped him back to tenth on the grid. There was something of a fight on for Quartararo who hadn’t been slow in Holland but equally hadn’t enjoyed the field-blitzing pace he had in Barcelona. And, for most of the race, Fabio looked like a top six rider, but in the last five laps he turned up the wick and rose from sixth place to second, cutting the gap to leader Bagnaia from over six seconds to 1.7 in those laps to take his fourth Grand Prix podium, his second in Moto2 and second in succession. This is impressive form from the Frenchman, who is beginning to remind people why he was twice CEV Repsol Moto3 Champion, and equally impressive from Speed Up who suddenly seem to have the chassis which is kindest on tyres – an important quality in such a tightly controlled class.
Alex Marquez got lucky. He would have missed the podium had Lorenzo Baldassarri’s rear tyre not let go. That was a tough blow for Balda, who had come from thirteenth place on the grid to second in supreme style, scything through the pack sideways-on, and by the end he was even closing Bagnaia and looked like he could potentially win his third Grand Prix. However, a puncture with three laps to go cruelly ended his chances.
But, as aforementioned, Baldassarri’s loss was Marquez’ gain, as he took his second consecutive podium, following on from his trophy at home in Barcelona. Whilst you cannot deny Alex’s consistency this season, you also cannot deny that third places are not enough. Eight races into 2018 and Marquez is still without a win, and that needs to change if he is to get back into the championship frame.
Alex Marquez takes a 3rd place at Assen TT. Image courtesy of Honda Pro racing
Just like in Barcelona, Marcel Schrotter was unable to convert what looked like pace for the podium into a top three in the race. This was quite a surprise, especially as early on it was Schrotter who was keeping Bagnaia in check. Equally, probably not many people, myself included, counted on the brilliant pace of Quartararo. However, the scene is set quite well for Schrotter to take his first Moto2 podium finish at home in the Sachsenring and considering his pace over the last few weekends it is definitely a possibility.
Joan Mir disappointed. He finished fifth. This is good, though, for the Spanish rookie – not many Moto2 first-years are able to say they disappointed with a fifth place. Still, he looked very strong early on, so far as to say it looked like Bagnaia should have worried about the #36 Marc VDS Kalex, but as the race went on his pace slowly slipped. Two races without a podium almost feels like a dramatic form dip for the reigning Moto3 World Champion, and he will hope to return to the box in Germany.
If the race was a little disappointing for Joan Mir, it was deeply so for Miguel Oliveira. Normally, going from seventeenth to sixth in one race is quite good – superb, in fact. However, this is not the case when you are fighting for the World Championship. Oliveira’s poor qualifying is ruining his hopes of taking a first world title, and KTM have to work hard now in the next races to ensure that he can actually use his strong race pace by allowing him to be able to make the most of a fresh tyre in qualifying.
The same can be said for Brad Binder, about the necessity for KTM to support him in qualifying. It was 20th on the grid for Binder, who could only manage to recover to seventh place. Since Binder is not fighting for the title this year it is not such a big deal, but the point remains: KTM have to improve in qualifying.
Brad Binder at Assen. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer /KTM
From his first front row start in Grand Prix racing, Luca Marini could only manage eighth. On paper this does not seem like such a good result, but the Italian will be contented by his ability to hold the pace of the leaders in the early laps. Marini is not used to fighting at the front and, as his half-brother proved in 2013, it is not easy to run at the front just because you have a strong bike and a strong team, the rider has to adapt and get used to fighting with the front runners, who do not make mistakes. But make no mistakes, Marini is improving, and by the end of the season it shouldn’t be such a surprise to see him at the front more consistently, as long as he stays fit.
Sam Lowes, after such a strong ride in Barcelona which took him from last to ninth, will be disappointed with the same finishing position from a second row start. He was the only KTM to qualify in the top 16, but failed to do anything with it. In Barcelona it looked like he had found something, but after Assen it seems like his search for the right feeling in the races continues.
The top ten was rounded out by the incredibly impressive Andrea Locatelli who, with the rise of Quartararo, has gone quite under the radar with his sudden improvement, but his first top ten in a Moto2 race shows a big step for the Italian, and something to build on for future races.
It was Locatelli’s teammate, Mattia Pasini, who was eleventh. Since his crash in Mugello, Pasini has fallen away, and must bounce back. It seems a long time ago that he was pushing his hopes of the championship. Augusto Fernandez had a good showing in twelfth place, ahead of Jorge Navarro, Domi Aegerter and Simone Corsi who came from last to round out the points scorers.
Sixteenth went to Iker Lecuona, ahead of Bo Bendsneyder, Remy Gardner, Khairul Idham Pawi, Steven Odendaal, Joe Roberts, Isaac Vinales, Jules Danilo, Eric Granado, Federico Fuligni and Lorenzo Baldassarri who pit for a new tyre after his puncture but came out a lap down.
Danny Kent was the first retirement on lap one at turn three, then Stefano Manzi fell, and they were joined on the side lines by Xavi Vierge and Romano Fenati.
Jorge Martin is a special rider. He began the 2018 Dutch TT weekend with a big crash in FP2 on Friday, which saw him have to use an altered right boot for the rest of the weekend. But that did not prevent him from taking his fifteenth pole position in Grand Prix racing, and from that pole (a Moto3 record breaker) he went on to take his fourth win of 2018. Not only that, but once again he displayed pace in the early part of the race which was enough to split the pack.
Finally, it was a five-rider group which fought for the win, with Martin, Enea Bastianini, Marco Bezzecchi, Aron Canet and John McPhee. All riders showed strength at some point in the race, they all looked like they could win at some point, but it was Martin who timed his bolt to perfection in the final stages to put himself out of reach of the chasing riders. It is possible to say that we have never seen in Moto3, a pace advantage of one rider like the one Martin has over the rest of the 2018 crop and his speed warrants a title, but he needs to match it with consistency if he wants to make that a reality.
Aron Canet took second place from Enea Bastianini in the final chicane, which represented the end to a podium drought stretching back to Argentina for the Spaniard. He lies now twenty four points behind the top of the championship, which is now occupied by Jorge Martin, but if he can continue this podium form there is still a championship opportunity for the number 44.
Enea Bastianini took the final podium position, to move himself twenty-one points away from the lead of the championship. It was the first time Bastianini has taken consecutive podiums since Misano and Aragon 2016 and finally it looks like he has found the form most people expected him to have from the word go. I guess you could say the same thing about Canet but in last year’s championship winning team and in his fifth season in the World Championship it is perhaps more expected of Bastianini to perform at the front week in, week out.
Fourth place went to Jaume Masia, his best result of the season, who led the chasing pack across the line ahead of Jakub Kornfeil, Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Darryn Binder who also enjoyed his best 2018 finish with the KTM Ajo team. Eighth place went to Gabriel Rodrigo, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio who did his championship hopes few favours with such a result. The top ten was rounded out by Marcos Ramirez.
Nicolo Bulega has transformed his first front row start since Sachsenring last season, to a typically poor start and first lap, and finally ended up in eleventh place, although at least he finally has some points on the board. It has to be said that the ability of Martin to split the pack did Bulega no favours in this race, but you would have thought that after nearly two-and-a-half seasons of starting badly he and the Sky Racing Team VR46 would have been able to rectify the problem. As it is, work still needs to be done, but anyway it is good to see Bulega back on the pace. Sachsenring was his best race last season, so hopefully the Italian can continue this form at the circuit on 15th of july.
It was Bulega’s teammate, Dennis Foggia, who took twelfth place. It was perhaps Foggia’s best weekend of the season, and at some points in the race he was one of the fastest riders on track. Unfortunately for Foggia, the twelve place grid penalty he got for riding slowly cost him any chance of a top ten, but the signs are positive for the Italian with a view to the future.
Tatstuki Suzuki was thirteenth, ahead of Le Mans winner, Albert Arenas, and Niccolo Antonelli, who had a tough time all weekend, rounded out the points.
Sixteenth place went to Kaito Toba, ahead of Tony Arbolino, Philipp Oettl, Ayumu Sasaki and Kazuki Masaki who completed to top twenty. Twenty first went to Adam Norrodin, ahead of Nakarin Atiratphuvapat, wildcard Ai Ogura, Livio Loi, Alonso Lopez, Andrea Migno, Makar Yurchenko’s replacement Stefano Nepa, and finally Ryan van der Lagemaat who was the only rider to finish a lap down.
Marco Bezzecchi and John McPhee both crashed out in the final stages of the race. They were the only retirements and the only KTM riders in the front group, which perhaps says something about the motorcycle, most notably that it wears the tyres and especially the front tyre, at least from observation, as both riders seemed to be struggling in the twisty sections of Assen, the Austrian motor keeping them in contention. The crash for Bezzecchi was a particularly important one, as it ensured he gave up the championship lead to Jorge Martin. A slightly twisted positive for Bezzecchi, though, is that he has still not finished a race outside of the top three. Furthermore, Bezzecchi has proven in the first races this year that he can fight for the title, his consistency proving his biggest strength. With that in mind, Marco has to ensure that this is his final unforced error of this season, otherwise he has no chance to beat Martin’s outright speed.
Fourth place in race one gave Michael van der Mark pole position for World Superbike’s second race of the weekend in Misano, and with the pace he displayed in Saturday’s race one the Dutchman had a prime opportunity to take his third World Superbike win.
But it was Xavi Fores, from third on the grid, who made the holeshot, and took the early lead in race two, and in the early stages he led well, until his Barni Racing Ducati expired on the second lap of the race. It was a tough blow for Fores, who returned to the front in Rimini after a few difficult races since Donington, and a podium – which was on the cards, it would have been the perfect way for the Spaniard to go into the eternal summer break.
The retirement of Fores let Van der Mark into the lead, a position which he relished. Battling behind between Jonathan Rea, Tom Sykes, Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies – especially between Rea and Melandri when the Northern Irishman was trying to take second place from the Italian – allowed the Donington double winner to create an advantage, and before too long the #60 Pata Yamaha was over one second up the street.
It was about at this point that Rea finally dispatched Melandri and with nine laps to go set on after the 2014 World Supersport Champion. It took the reigning champion all of about three laps to catch Van der Mark, but unlike the other seven riders he had fought past in the race to this point, Magic Michael put up a defence strong enough to keep Rea behind. Rea had been making moves in turn three, turn six and turn fourteen almost with ease to this point in the race, but Van der Mark rode superbly to keep him at bay for a number of laps.
The battling at the front allowed Marco Melandri to catch the two leaders, at which point Rea dealt with Van der Mark. Melandri then had the opportunity to take second place from Van der Mark and challenge Rea for the win, but was unable to set something up. It was a tense ending to the race, but with each of the three riders in the front group having just enough to keep them out of range of the rider behind, it was a stalemate from the beginning of lap nineteen to the flag; Jonathan Rea leading over the line from Michael van der Mark and Marco Melandri.
WSBK 2018 Misano race 2 Podium. Image courtesy of Ducati
Rea’s victory was an important one, as it was his third double in the last five rounds and took him 92 points clear at the top of the championship – out of range. It’s difficult to find words for Jonathan Rea anymore. He controlled the first race of the weekend from lights to flag, and then made a perfect start in the second race which was followed by some tough battling and sublime overtaking. Once again, he showed his knowledge of the Pirelli tyres and how to get the maximum out of them, hauling the bike up on the exit of every corner like no other to minimise spin without too much electronic intervention. This has been a common trait of Rea’s riding since he arrived at Kawasaki in 2015 and realised that, whilst the overall package of the ZX10-R was an improvement over his previous machine, he wouldn’t be able to run the corner speed of the Honda with the Kawasaki. Instead, Rea changed his style to break hard and late, trail braking deeper into the corner than any other rider – somehow without ever losing the front – and then using the power of the Kawasaki to fire him out of the corner. This style has only been exaggerated this year with the rev limits which have been placed on the Kawasaki limiting both its top speed and, more importantly, its acceleration. These limitations which have been placed on the Kawasaki this year have basically made it essential for their riders to make all their lap time on the brakes, and this is where the difference is between Rea and teammate Tom Sykes, because Rea is more confident braking late and on angle than Sykes, and even when the reigning champion gets out of shape in the braking zone, he can still make the apex. This is in part because Rea has tremendous front feel, but also because the bike is quite clearly set up in a way to suit this style perfectly. Rea’s advantage in this area has been visible all season, especially on Sunday in the second Misano race, and for the most part it is why he is able to win so many races.
Michael van der Mark’s second place was an important one after a tough Laguna Seca round, and being hampered by a poor Superpole for the first race. It could have been a win had it not been for the mastery of Rea, but then, without Rea, the championship fight would actually be, well, a fight. Either way, Van der Mark rode beautifully and in the laps where he was being challenged by Rea his replies were superb, his answers to Rea’s probes were ones which no other rider could imitate. He adapted his lines to match Rea’s attacks, and whilst he was overcome in the end, his performance was perhaps the best of any pilot in the field in this race.
Marco Melandri at Misano. Image courtesy of Ducati
Third place for Marco Melandri was partly disappointing, but also very positive for the Italian. Firstly, it was disappointing for Melandri because he could have won. This was not only because he was there in the front trio, but also because he suffered a lot on Friday, and losing both FP3 and FP4 was critical for his weekend, as it cost him time to adapt for the new front tyre which Pirelli took to Misano, and was the popular choice amongst the riders for both races. The first race turned into a test for Marco, trying to work out what he needed to make the new tyre work, and the warm up was in the same vein. In the end, it worked for Melandri, as he was able to fight for the win, but the point is that had he not lost the third and fourth sessions of the weekend he may well have been able to challenge harder for the win. But, this is racing. Unfortunately for Melandri, he has to hold onto the positivity of the progress made between Saturday and Sunday in Misano for 9 weeks before World Superbike returns in September at Portimao.
Chaz Davies ended the race over two seconds off the win, which will be a disappointment after he made such a positive start, making moves on many riders and looking like he had the pace. However, the longer the race went on, the longer it became clear that Davies would be without a second trophy from Misano. Being 92 points back in the championship, it’s pretty much rostrum or hospital now for Davies, not because he can still win the title if he does that but because no one goes racing to not come home with a cup.
It was a second fifth place of the weekend for Tom Sykes. After the Kawasaki garage exploded in Brno, and the scything words from Sykes aimed towards both Rea and his crew chief, it was to be expected that the 2013 World Champion might have put up a bit of a fight against Jonathan Rea, but that never came. It looks like Sykes has lost a bit of motivation, and to me it seems like the best thing that can happen for Tom right now is for him to get this season over with, get out of Kawasaki, to a new manufacturer where he feels more comfortable and then perhaps we can see him back at his unbeatable best.
Sixth place went to Alex Lowes, who was looking for pretty much anything after two crashes in the first race. Finishing six seconds off his teammate won’t have pleased him too much, but coming from twelfth was always going to be difficult, as he noted himself both before and after the race. Now Lowes goes to Japan, and the Suzuka 8 Hour along with his Pata Yamaha teammate, Michael van der Mark and many other World Superbike riders, as well as about half the British Superbike grid, to try to win for the fourth successive time in the biggest single race of the year.
Lorenzo Savadori took seventh place, beating teammate and Saturday’s third place man, Eugene Laverty, over the line. Laverty put his downturn in both pace and result between Saturday and Sunday down to the rear tyre, which he claimed had no grip in the second race. It has been the target of Aprilia and SMR all season to give Laverty a bike which has some rear grip. They finally arrived at that point in Laguna, and continued that in Misano, at least until the end of the first race, and the podiums that arrived when they found him some rear grip served as proof that Laverty is still a top runner when he has what he wants, so to lose that on Sunday to what seems like a tyre problem was a big shame for Laverty. But Portimao is next for the Northern Irishman, and his target there is to win – he has nine weeks to think about how to do that.
Ninth place went to Loris Baz, and he finished ahead of Leon Camier who rounded out the top ten. Camier is another of the riders heading out to Suzuka. Leon is riding the first full factory HRC Honda there has been in a long time, as they look to end Yamaha’s winning streak at Honda’s home circuit.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi at Misanso 2018. Image courtesy of Ducati
Michael Ruben Rinaldi showed a big improvement in race two compared to the rest of the weekend, but could still only manage eleventh place, whilst the injured Toprak Razgatlioglu was twelfth. Nicolo Canepa scored thirteenth in his third wildcard race of the season, as he beat Jake Gagne home, whilst Roman Ramos rounded out the points.
Yonny Hernandez was sixteenth, and Leandro Mercado re-mounted his Orelac Racing Kawasaki after a crash early on to be the last of the seventeen finishers.
Jordi Torres retired at the end of lap one when his MV expired, and half a lap later Fores’ Panigale blew. Karel Hanika’s replacement, Alessandro Andreozzi, retired with six laps to go and PJ Jacobsen went out with two to go.
Now the Superbike World Championship heads for its nine-week-long summer break, after which it heads to the Autodromo do Algarve in Portimao.
It was Tom Sykes who qualified on pole position, his seventh consecutive Misano pole position, for the Rimini Riviera round of the 2018 Superbike World Championship. However, it was Jonathan Rea who, believe it or not, looked fastest on the race pace. Sykes had to make a start to try to hold Rea in the early stages of the race to try to keep the Northern Irishman in reach, but the reigning champion got a great jump from the middle of the front row, and got to turn one first.
From there, Rea edged out his lead and, whilst there was a reasonable amount of battling behind, none of it was any trouble for Rea, who did not see another rider’s front tyre for the whole race. It was vintage Jonathan Rea, and a perfect illustration of a few things, notably what can happen when bike and rider are working perfectly in unison, that the combination of Rea and ZX10-RR is the best one on the grid, and also that Jonathan Rea is the best rider of the current crop. Of course, many times in the last three years, these things have been displayed by Rea and Kawasaki, but this one was particularly worrying for everyone else thanks to Rea’s admission that, in reality, he was nowhere near the limit.
Chaz Davis at Misano 2018. Image courtesy Ducati media
Closer to his limit was Chaz Davies. He only qualified seventh and, throughout the weekend, had been struggling with pace on the fresh tyres. However, he made a brilliant start, almost passing Eugene Laverty for third into turn two, but going round the outside in the middle of the Variante del Parco was never going to work for the Ducati rider, so it was fourth place after lap one for Chaz. However, after five or six laps, when Tom Sykes started to struggle, he was passed by Laverty and once this happened, Davies was right on the rear wheel of the number 66. It didn’t take much longer for Davies to pass Sykes, taking third place away from the Kawasaki rider in turn eight with a beautiful, sideways-on move. He then struggled to catch Laverty, but with a drop in pace and ultimately a mistake from the Northern Irishman at the final corner, Davies was through. From there, it was a fairly comfortable five or so laps for the Welshman, and second place it was in the end at the second home round for Ducati. A win would be the goal for Chaz and Ducati, but with the searing pace of Rea, even when he isn’t pushing, the struggles of Ducati and with both of them coming from row three. After the 1st race it is hard to imagine that the Fratelli d’Italia will be aired on the 2nd race’s podium.
Despite a broken sensor, which caused the drop in pace and the mistake which let Davies through, Eugene Laverty managed to bring the Aprilia home for a second consecutive podium finish. It was another brilliant ride from Laverty, and at a circuit which he was concerned about ahead of the weekend due to the number of heavy braking zones and the difficulty in getting the RSV4 stopped. However, his fears were clearly unnecessary, as his pace was good enough for second. Thus, he will be disappointed with third, but a podium seemed a long way away a few weeks ago and all of a sudden he has two in two races. Coming from row three will be a tough task for Eugene in Race two, especially considering who is on pole, but his pace means you cannot rule him out of yet another podium fight.
The rider on pole position in race 2 is Michael van der Mark, who made a brilliant recovery from a difficult Friday and a difficult SP2 session, in which he qualified P11 only, to finish fourth. He nearly had a podium, but he just needed a little bit more time to catch Laverty. But, anyway, Magic Michael, from pole position in Race Two, has a great opportunity to take a podium, or maybe even a victory.
Tom Sykes could only manage fifth place from pole position in Race One. After five laps his pace dropped and, although he could keep pace with Davies for a couple of laps after the Welshman passed him, he was unable to stay there for long, and once Van der Mark was in range, Sykes had nothing left to fight with. It seems the situation inside Kawasaki is having a very negative effect on Sykes.
Sixth place went to Xavi Fores who has had a good weekend in Misano. The Spaniard, riding for the Italian Barni Racing Team, was sporting a special Tricolore livery and with it he beat the factory Panigale of Marco Melandri, who was seventh, and a disappointing seventh at that. However, Melandri did put a stunning move on Lorenzo Savadori between turns twelve and thirteen for that seventh place, although it was a shame that the move was for P7, and not, say, the lead. That left Savadori in eighth place, having shot his tyre by the end, and just ahead of Leon Camier in ninth place. Leandro Mercado rounded out the top ten.
PJ Jacobsen. Image courtesy of Honda ProRacing
Toprak Razgatlioglu was eleventh place – impressive considering his discomfort – ahead of Nicolo Canepa the Yamaha wildcard; Roman Ramos, Jake Gagne who raced much better than he qualified, Alessandro Andreozzi, PJ Jacobsen, Michael Ruben Rinaldi who had many problems during Race One and ended up pitting and re-joining the race three laps down; and finally Jordi Torres who was four laps down after a crash and a trip to the pits.
Loris Baz, Yonny Hernandez and Alex Lowes (with two crashes) were the only retirements.
Chaz Davies was on pole ahead of race one of the eighth round of the 2018 Superbike World Championship, but it was Jonathan Rea who, as you might expect, was favourite to take the race win, despite qualifying third.
Straight away off the line, Rea was past his teammate, Tom Sykes, for P2, and then set his sights on Chaz Davies. He had a look to pass the Welshman at the final corner on the first lap, but Davies squared the corner off to undercut the championship leader and beat him on the run out of the corner.
From then on, Davies and Rea stayed in line, Rea content to remain behind the Ducati as it pulled him clear of the rest of the pack. But, unexpectedly, Davies then started to pull away from Rea, and had about half a second before he locked the front at the top of the Corkscrew, and was forced to release the brake, run wide and let the #1 Kawasaki through.
After that, Rea was imperious and although Davies was able to keep contact with the Northern Irishman for a while after his mistake, with about ten laps to go that contact was relinquished, and the reigning champion stormed to his seventh win of 2018, extending his championship lead over Davies back out to seventy points.
As usual, Rea was immaculate in this race one. He made almost no mistakes the whole race, took his opportunity when it arose, kept hold of his tyre beautifully and finally took what was a well deserved win, however expected it was.
However, Rea admitted to being surprised about the pace of Davies, and how long the Welshman was able to keep at the front. Perhaps the key for Davies was using the older-spec, smaller rear tyre, which most have dismissed since the newer, larger tyre came in at Donington. Certainly, since that newer tyre arrived, Davies had seemed lass comfortable with the Panigale, which is interesting because the tyre has typically worked better for the taller riders, of which Davies is one. Either way, reverting to the smaller tyre seemed to work for him, and although he couldn’t fight until the end for the victory, he might not have even made the podium with the big tyre. Also, Davies chose the softest option rear, whereas almost everyone else chose the hardest; perhaps choosing a harder tyre, as well as some more changes, could bring Davies into play later in the race in race two, if he can get through the pack from row three as quickly as Rea.
Alex Lowes took his second consecutive World Superbike podium with third place, after his debut win in Brno a fortnight ago. It was a strange race for Lowes, simply because he seemed to be pushing on a lot for what he surely knew would be little reward. That said, we saw very little of him once he passed Tom Sykes at the top of the Corkscrew, so maybe what we did see was an anomaly. Either way, being so far clear in that third place at a circuit which has not favoured the Yamaha in recent years at all is a positive for the Crescent team, even if they were twelve seconds off the win. It will be interesting to see what Lowes can do from the head of the third row in race two. Laguna is a tough circuit to pass on – although obviously no one told Alex that, seeing his passes in race one – so he will need a good start if he is to fight for the podium again.
Eugene Laverty took his second fourth place in succession. The first lap was a tough one for Norge, dropping behind both Lowes and his teammate Lorenzo Savadori to sixth place. He maintained his tyres and towards the end of the race, he was able to fend of the resurgent Ducatis of Marco Melandri and Xavi Fores, who were coming back to him at the end, to hold onto the fourth place he took from Sykes in the same place which Lowes past the #66 Kawasaki: the top of the Corkscrew. The key for Laverty has been discovering some rear grip with the RSV4, which he has been searching for since the beginning of the season. Like Davies, Laverty suffered with the new tyre, but persevered with it and is now feeling the benefit of that. Starting from pole in race 2, Laverty has a genuine chance to make the podium for the first time since 2014.
Marco Melandri at Laguna Seca.Image courtesy of Ducati.
Marco Melandri had a strange race. He came through the pack fairly well in the beginning of the race, but after passing Xavi Fores, he seemed to make a mistake, as he dropped back behind the Spaniard, only to re-pass him in the final laps. Ultimately, he did not have enough to pass Laverty for the reverse grid pole, but if he can get away well in race two from the front row, he has the opportunity to make a good race and fight for the podium – maybe even the win.
It was sixth place for Xavi Fores, who saw a return to form, and finished a massive seven seconds ahead of Tom Sykes, who had a nightmare. It seemed like Sykes’ rear tyre started to drop after about five laps, by lap ten it was dead and by the end of the race it had started to rot and the maggots had arrived. With such a dramatic drop off (he ended the race twenty-five seconds off the win), Sykes had no chance of fighting for any position and from the outside it seems he needs a miracle to reverse his fortunes for the second race.
Michael van der Mark continued his difficult weekend, finishing only eighth, fourteen seconds down on teammate, Alex Lowes. It looks like Magic Michael needs to live up to his name if he is to improve for race two, he just hasn’t looked competitive all weekend.
Jordi Torres was ninth, ahead of home rider, Jake Gagne who took his first top ten of the season, in tenth. Perhaps this is what Gagne needs to kickstart his season, albeit seven rounds late. Now Gagne is in circuits he knows he might be able to show a more competitive pace.
Yonny Hernandez was eleventh; Roman Ramos came from the back of the grid to twelfth; Karel Hanika (replacing Ondrej Jezek in Guandalini Yamaha) made his World Superbike debut in thirteenth; Lorenzo Savadori crashed at the final corner on lap two but got back on to get two points in fourteenth; Loris Baz also crashed, and was the final finisher in fifteenth, so like Savadori still scored points.
Leandro Mercado, PJ Jacobsen, Leon Camier, Josh Herrin and Toprak Razgatlioglu all retired. It was especially a shame for Herrin, who had shown strong pace over the course of the weekend.
Again, the biggest question from race one: can anyone stop Jonathan Rea?
Marc Marquez sliding past the apex. Image courtesy of Hondanews.eu
On Sunday, the Moto3 race was delayed until 1pm BST. Or, at least, that’s what you would have thought if all the bikes and riders were blacked-out. A better race you are unlikely to see, than the 2018 Dutch TT, at least outside of Phillip Island. Mind you, even the thrillers we have seen in Australia in 2015 and 2017 probably don’t come close to last weekend’s MotoGP race – it was almost perfect. The only thing this race missed was a final lap, final corner battle for the victory, but there is only so much you can do about someone being faster, smarter and more superhuman than everyone else. Yes, it was Marc Marquez who won the TT but that does not tell nearly half the tale.
Jorge Lorenzo saved the race, early on. He had not had much pace all weekend, relatively, and didn’t look as though he could have fought for the win. However, he made nine passes on the opening lap, including about four in the first corner where he rode around the outside. That put him in the lead, once he had passed Marquez for first position in turn ten. At this point it would have been hard to find an onlooker who was not thinking: “three in a row?!” And Lorenzo led well, leading a total of thirteen laps in this race where it seemed impossible to maintain position in that first group of between six and nine (depending on the point of the race). In fact, Lorenzo led more laps than anyone, even more than Marquez who led only eight in comparison. But the two laps between lap fourteen and seventeen were the ones which ruined Lorenzo’s race because they broke his often impenetrable rhythm. They were two intense laps of tough battling between Jorge ad Ducati teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, who was after getting past the #99 and trying to stretch the group at this stage in the race. But Lorenzo didn’t give up, he passed Dovi in almost every corner until a misjudged pass at the final chicane by the Spaniard saw him run slightly wide, and ultimately out of contention. From there, the winner of the past two races dropped to seventh, his dim championship flame seemingly ultimately extinguished by Assen. Well, what else should it have been?
But, even at this point, Marquez was not home and dry for this victory; still Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi, Maverick Vinales, Alex Rins and Cal Crutchlow were in the running. All had looked strong the whole race, put strong moves and showed both their strengths and weaknesses. But the critical thing was that the only rider who was able to build a rhythm had been dropped from the leading group.
The next big talking point came when Marc Marquez and Maverick Vinales touched heading into De Bult, both running way wide, out of the track, allowing Dovi and Rossi through, the #04 leading the #46. Rossi made his move for the lead at the chicane, where he had been strong all day, but missing the run out of the chicane made The Doctor vulnerable to the acceleration of the Desmosedici on the way out, and Dovi re-assumed the lead at turn one. That was over the course of the half-lap which spanned from lap 21 to 22. And it was lap 22 when Marquez made his break.
Rossi moved to the inside of Dovi on the entry to Osserbroeken, and although the cameras cut away, the assumption you can make is that: Rossi went to the inside of the Ducati, Dovi held it around the outside of the M1 to have the inside for De Strubben; they both suffered on the exit of De Strubben and Marquez capitalised. Dovi took second place, Rossi slipped to third, and Marc ran. Rossi knew if he wanted to win, he had to pass Dovi quickly, especially because Vinales, Rins and Crutchlow were arriving behind. But it took Rossi until the end of lap 24 to make a pass on Dovi, by which time Marquez was gone but a podium was still possible for the Italian pair. But, as happened two laps previous, Rossi was beaten on the run out of the chicane by Dovizioso, who matched the #46 on the brakes. Both were strong on the anchors but Dovi had the line, and forced Rossi out of the track and back to fifth spot. This was a talking point immediately after the race, Rossi questioning the intelligence of Dovizioso’s move, whilst Andrea defended his decision by explaining that he had the line. It is worth pointing out at this point that had the positions been reversed, and Rossi been on the inside of Dovizioso, the nine-times World Champion would have done precisely the same thing as his compatriot. If anything, Rossi should have let Dovizioso go, and tried to undercut the Desmosedici rider on the exit of turn one. But, everything is very easy to say in hindsight, and from your sofa.
Anyway, that put Rossi definitely out of podium contention, and Dovi pretty much out of it too. It was now Vinales and Rins who would fight over second, and finally it was Rins who took it on the final lap at Ramshoek, forcing Vinales out in an entirely fair, but still suitably aggressive, manner.
So, over the line for the 26th and final time it was Marquez to win from Rins and Vinales.
Firstly, it is hard to ignore the irony of Honda’s favourite son, winning on a Honda, in Assen (a “Yamaha track”), one year on from Yamaha’s last MotoGP victory, on the Iwata manufacturer’s 63rd birthday which was also the last time the Dutch TT was held in July. But what a win it was, from his first Assen MotoGP pole – his 75th in Grand Prix – and in such a superb race. And, as you might expect from Marc, he threw down some big moves too, especially in De Strubben, where he was not afraid of getting some foreign paint on his factory Honda. Even when people were putting moves on Marc, he managed to make it a Marquez spectacle, such as when Rins passed him in De Strubben – having obviously studied the moves of the six-time World Champion – and they touched on the exit; Marquez fell off the side of the bike but managed to pull himself back on the RC213V without losing as much as a tenth. Furthermore, in the same way it is possible to say that Marquez saves those huge front end slides through skill and not luck, it is equally possible to say that he does not win these crazy pack races through luck, but by being clever and making sure he is always in the correct position to be both proactive and reactive, to create situations and respond to ones created by others in the best way. Just think; Phillip Island 2015, Phillip Island 2017, Assen 2018; all pack races, all won by Marquez. Perhaps the only pack race he hasn’t won was Qatar this year. He’s a special rider and with a 41-point lead now, and eleven races remaining, it is coming close to the moment to state the inevitability of his seventh GP title, especially with Sachsenring up next.
Alex Rins’ second place was a crucial one after a tough period for the Suzuki rider. Barcelona had been a disaster for the Spaniard and despite a decent performance in Mugello where he finished fifth behind teammate Andrea Iannone, every race for the number 42 had been difficult since his podium in Argentina. This podium was a good way to bounce back and also proved that at least most of the tyre drop off issues that Iannone is suffering with the GSX-RR is down to the fleshy bit sat atop the #29. Now the onus is on Rins to make sure that this podium is not quickly forgotten, but rather built upon. He needs to assume the number one role in the team from Iannone before the Italian departs for Aprilia at the end of the season.
It was a welcome return to the podium in Holland for Maverick Vinales, two-and-a-half months on from his previous rostrum in COTA. Finally, Vinales made a decent start and despite dropping two positions, he was still in touch with the leaders after the first laps and, largely thanks to the identity of the early leader, Jorge Lorenzo, the time it took for Vinales to come into his rhythm did not leave him out of podium contention as it had done in the past. He was quick to make moves, too, although when he came up to the back of teammate, Rossi, he was noticeably more gun-shy, probably out of a lack of want to endure the wrath of Yamaha head office on their birthday. Anyway, a third place is not what Yamaha would have hoped for on their anniversary but perhaps the new company record for time between wins will inspire the engineers in Iwata to producing something sufficient to allow Vinales to pursue a first MotoGP title which he believes is not yet out of reach.
The fourth place of Dovizioso perhaps does not reflect what he deserved, because he had the speed for the podium, but the ‘incident’ Rossi ended any hopes of a top three for the Italian. However, Dovi did prove that on non-‘Lorenzo’ tracks, he still has the upper hand on his teammate, especially over race distance and the pure fact that he was in the running for most of the race for the victory shows again that the Ducati has improved on its weak points. Unfortunately, Dovizioso now lies 61 points behind Marquez in the championship, so his hopes are as good as gone. It has to be ‘win or bin’ now for Dovi, he will be after race wins for the remainder of the season – no one goes racing for second place.
Valentino Rossi had the potential to win the 2018 Dutch TT but he was both unfortunate and occasionally poorly placed. But ultimately, it was the speed of the Ducati compared to the Yamaha which cost Rossi the podium; had Dovizioso not gotten the acceleration out of the final chicane that he did on lap 24, he would not have been able to force Rossi onto the run-off area on the exit of turn one – and his drive was mostly down to his motorcycle. You might say that Rossi should have passed Dovizioso in a different place to the last chicane but ultimately it was the only place he was strong enough to make a pass on the #04, since the speed of the Desmosedici put it out of range of the M1 on the pit straight, making a move into turn one impossible, and he wasn’t strong enough anywhere else. When Marquez had his contact with Rins it was Rossi who suffered, backing out of the throttle to avoid the Spanish pair and dropping a position to Dovizioso in the process. Furthermore, Rossi occasionally left himself open to attack, especially in De Strubben where he was passed by both Marquez and Rins. But what was very frustrating from Rossi’s perspective was that he looked like he had the pace to break away at the front on many occasions during the race, so a fifth is a big disappointment for the Italian. Additionally, the fifth place ended a run of three consecutive podiums for the Italian, dropped him forty-one points behind in the World Championship and thus ultimately put a tenth title out of reach for at least one more year.
It could have been worse for Rossi had Cal Crutchlow not run wide at turn eight with two to go. In the end it was sixth for Crutchlow, and he made the least overtakes of the front group riders, only three over the course of the 26 laps compared to Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales who both had the most with fourteen. Perhaps in that stat lies the cause of the result for Cal, who after the race explained that pack races disadvantage Honda riders because the RC213V does not accelerate, and it overheats the front tyre. This only makes Marquez’ victory more impressive. But the disadvantages of the Honda lead to difficulties overtaking and in a race of this nature, an inability to overtake is race-killer.
After his amazing start and long stint at the front of the race, Jorge Lorenzo dropped back through the pack to finish seventh, 4.462 seconds off the win. It was lucky he finished at all though. At one point whilst leading he seemed to make a mistake in Meuwenmeer, and Valentino Rossi piled into the back of him. The fact that the pair got away from the incident without crashing, nor losing a position was remarkable, although Jorge’s lunch was nearly dropped out the back of the GP18’s ‘salad box’. Apart from that, it was good to see such a big fight from Jorge in the race, fighting with 110% for the entire 26 laps and for every position. This is a Jorge Lorenzo we haven’t seen before – it’s both refreshing and worrying.
Johann Zarco was typically aggressive in the opening stages of the race, mixing it strongly with the front group, but in the end dropped back quite a lot and finished ultimately seven seconds off the win in eighth place. Anyway, it was good to see Zarco back in the front group after a period of difficulty since his home GP crash three races ago. Alvaro Bautista took yet another top ten in ninth place, whilst 2016 Dutch TT winner, Jack Miller, crossed the line tenth.
Eleventh place went to Andrea Iannone who had a messy race. He was in the front group in the early laps, but ran wide in the chicane which cost him the contact with the front group, and was later handed a time penalty for cutting the Geert Timmer Chicane.
Pol Espargaro finished twelfth for KTM. Perhaps the first signs of frustration from the Austrian marque’s riders started to show through after this weekend, when Espargaro expressed a displeasure at the lack of progress made by the Red Bull-backed constructor in 2018.
It was the other Espargaro brother, Aleix, who finished thirteenth, which would not have pleased him much, although he would have been relieved to finish; but at a circuit like Assen, which rewards a nimble chassis, it was disappointing to see the RSGP so relatively uncompetitive.
The Dutch TT weekend proved to be Scott Redding’s best of 2018. After qualifying better than he had done all season, he finished fourteenth, less than one tenth behind his Spanish teammate. Hopefully for Scott this upward turn morphs into an upward trend, and the British rider can find himself with some decent offers on the table for 2019 by when his time at Aprilia will be at an end.
The final point went to Dani Pedrosa. It was an awful weekend for Dani, which he put, at least in part, down to the speculation about his future. Whatever the issues, fifteenth place is not where Dani Pedrosa should be, but with a strong track for Dani coming up, the Sachsenring, maybe he can reverse his fortunes in Germany.
Tito Rabat will be disappointed with a non-points-scoring ride. To be honest, it feels quite good to be able to say about Rabat that he should be disappointed about not scoring points after two years of scraping the barrel on the satellite Honda. Rabat was followed home by Bradley Smith, Hafizh Syahrin, Takaaki Nakagami and Tom Luthi.
Danilo Petrucci, Xavier Simeon and Karel Abraham were the only retirements, whilst Franco Morbidelli did not start, following his FP3 crash in which he broke a metacarpal.
For round nine, the MotoGP World Championship heads to Germany, and the Sachsenring, in two weeks time – a traditional Marc Marquez stronghold.
Yesterday, Jorge Martin looked to be in trouble after a crash in FP2 which left him being carried away on a stretcher but today turned that around, despite an injured foot and thusly adjusted right Alpinestars boot, to take yet another Moto3 pole position by 0.310 seconds. Tomorrow it will be important for Martin to finish, not only to protect his foot but to also get some points on the board after the non-score in Barcelona two weeks ago. But Martin will not just want to finish, he will want to win, and it would be no surprise to see him break the pack, or at least try to, in the first laps tomorrow. Whether he can do it or not is a different story, but again he is probably the favourite for the victory tomorrow.
Two Italians join Martin on the front row: Enea Bastianini and Nicolo Bulega. The last time the pair started together on the front row was back in 2016, also in Assen. Bastianini has had a mixed weekend, climbing and tumbling through the times in almost equal measure, but he got a solid time on the board when it counted and will hope to be able to take back-to-back wins for the first time in his Grand Prix career tomorrow.
Nicolo Bulega, meanwhile, took his first front row start since Argentina last year, to show that Barcelona was no fluke, and his pace is truly back. Last time out in Barcelona, Bulega had the pace for the win but was taken out of contention by events out of his control – tomorrow he will look to rectify that, and maybe even take his first Grand Prix victory.
Aron Canet has shown superb pace this weekend and could fire himself back into championship contention tomorrow with a good result. Aron put himself in a good position to do so, too, qualifying third. A win tomorrow would be his first of the season, and could hardly be better timed, just before the end of the first half of the season.
Fifth place on tomorrow’s grid will be occupied by Lorenzo Dalla Porta, and the last place on the front row is taken by John McPhee, who has looked strong in the last two rounds and will be aiming to claim the podium that escaped him last time out in Montmelo.
Fabio Di Giannantonio is seventh on the grid, ahead of championship leader Marco Bezzecchi. Bezzecchi has been fast this weekend, but also has been suffering with the front end of the KTM, a common theme. But, the most important thing for Marco tomorrow is to protect his nineteen point championship advantage which he currently holds over the rider starting one place in front of him.
Marcos Ramirez goes from the back of the third row, whilst Gabriel Rodrigo, aiming for his second GP podium and second in a row, rounds out the top ten on the grid.
From here, things get complicated because of penalties. Yesterday, Adam Norrodin got a back of the grid penalty for his second offence of riding too slowly in three sectors in one session; whilst Dennis Foggia, Ayumu Sasaki, Jakub Kornfeil and Kaito Toba received 12 place grid penalties for the same offence, but they were first timers. Albert Arenas also picked a penalty up.
Darryn Binder. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer/KTM
So, from eleventh back, the grid positions are: Tony Arbolino, Niccolo Antonelli, Livio Loi, Philipp Oettl, Jaume Masia, Tatsuki Suzuki, Darryn Binder, Arenas, Andrea Migno, Nakarin Atiratphuvapat, Alonso Lopez, Ai Ogura (wildcard), Kornfeil, Kazuki Masaki, Stefano Nepa (replacing Makar Yurchenko), Ryan van der Lagemaat (Dutch wildcard), Sasaki, Foggia, Toba, Norrodin.
If Martin cannot break away tomorrow, it could be a cracking Moto3 Dutch TT, and a potentially crucial one for the championship.
Featured image courtesy of Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
Francesco Bagnaia came into this weekend after having had his championship lead cut to one point by Miguel Oliveira in Barcelona two weeks ago. Bagnaia had to rebound, and he has, qualifying for the Dutch TT on pole – his second in the intermediate class – after topping all three free practice sessions. Bagnaia has the best pace, and he is in the best position to capitalise on that tomorrow. Bagnaia is the favourite, but as we know with Moto2 – it is just not that simple.
Miguel Oliveira.Image courtesy of Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
For a start, Marcel Schrotter has been phenomenal in the last few races, and this weekend has been no different, qualifying second and looking good all weekend. We will only find out whether Schrotter will be able to take the fight to Bagnaia tomorrow but if anyone is going to do it, it could well be the German.
Luca Marini made sure that the Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex of Schrotter will be the meat in a Sky Racing Team VR46 sandwich on the front row by putting the #10 Kalex third on the grid. This has been Marini’s best weekend since Le Mans last year; now that he is fully fit he is being able to express his potential, and whilst his performance this weekend might be a surprise, if he stays fit for the remainder of the season Marini’s name towards the top of the timesheets might not be such a rarity by November. Of course, racing is much different to qualifying, but Marini will be targeting the podium tomorrow, which would be his first in Grand Prix racing.
Alex Marquez starts from fourth tomorrow. The Spaniard has had a tricky weekend, struggling for consistency, but managed to pull a lap out of the bag in qualifying to give him a decent chance to make a good result tomorrow. Typically, this year, Marquez has gone well in practices only to fail to live up to expectations in the race. Maybe a more difficult time in practice will yield a more impressive race for Marquez – with expectations perhaps a little lower he will be able to ride more freely and perhaps get a better result as a consequence.
Xavi Vierge starts precisely behind his teammate, Schrotter, in fifth place. The #97 has been fairly under the radar this weekend but has put himself in a good position for tomorrow; tending to race better than he qualifies, Vierge should be one to watch tomorrow and could well arrive on the rostrum.
Qualifying has been an issue for KTM this season, and Sam Lowes was the highest placed rider on an Austrian chassis today, qualifying sixth. Often, Lowes has underperformed in races this season, but in Barcelona he rode fantastically to come from a pre-race bike issue and starting last to finish ninth. If he can ride as well as that tomorrow, there is no reason why Lowes can’t make a return to the podium, albeit a while later than most expected.
Montmelo winner, Fabio Quartararo, has continued his good form on the Speed Up this time out, qualifying seventh, and he has looked strong all weekend too. Getting his first win seems to have freed the Frenchman up a bit, so he should be quite competitive tomorrow, but being a newcomer to Moto2 frontrunning, it is difficult to predict what he might be able to do come race time.
Andrea Locatelli has enjoyed a brilliant weekend, finishing second in FP2 yesterday, and qualifying today in the middle of the third row, in eighth. It’s his second season in Moto2 and finally, it looks like something is clicking for the Italian. Hopefully for Loka, he can turn his good pace over the weekend into a good result in the race tomorrow.
Jorge Navarro has crashed a lot this weekend, but he has also been quick. He goes from ninth tomorrow, and it will be interesting to see what the Gresini rider can do in the race, because as yet he hasn’t made the step probably most people thought he might from rookie Moto2 season to season two.
Joan Mir, again, did not have such a stellar qualifying performance, but always races better. He rounded out the top ten today but it would be a surprise to see him absent from the podium fight tomorrow. Joining Mir on row four are a disappointing Mattia Pasini and an incredibly impressive Khairul Idham Pawi who, like Locatelli, may have finally found something with the Moto2 bike.
Lorenzo Baldassarri has looked okay this weekend, but nothing special. He qualified thirteenth, but with the times so tight (he was only 0.347 seconds off pole) he can still make progress tomorrow. Typically, consistency is Balda’s strongpoint, and if he can have good consistency tomorrow he can still rescue a good result and some important points for the championship.
There have been moments this weekend where Romano Fenati has looked like he can fight for the podium, but qualifying was not one of them. Like Baldassarri, he suffered from the tightness of the field – being just 0.453 seconds off pole but down in fourteenth on the grid. Again, Fenati’s pace shows potential, so if he can make a good start then he can be in the mix towards the front.
The last rider on the fifth row is Isaac Vinales, who starts ahead of Augusto Fernandez, who has got the Pons gig full time in the wake of Hector Barbera’s dismissal.
Brad Binder. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer/KTM
Miguel Oliveira once again decided to make life difficult for himself in the race by qualifying 17th. He was also 17th on the grid in Montmelo and finished second, but there are only so many times you can qualify in the back end of the top 20 and get away with it. Oliveira’s pace has been good this weekend, anyway, so he can still make a good result, but he also needs to make a good start to be able to do so. Remy Gardner lines up on the back of row six.
Nineteenth place was taken by Iker Lecuona, ahead of Simone Corsi, although the Italian will start from last after riding into the back of Oliveira in Barcelona on the cooldown lap.
Domi Aegerter will start twentieth, Brad Binder 21st, Danny Kent 22nd, Bo Bendsneyder 23rd, Stefano Manzi 24th, Steven Odendaal 25th, Niki Tuuli qualified 27th (which would have been 26th) but might not be able to race because of a big high side at the end of qualifying. Eric Granado will be 27th Joe Roberts 28th, Jules Danilo 29th, Xavi Cardelus – who also crashed at the end of qualifying – will be 30th, and finally Federico Fuligni will start 31st.
Tetsuta Nagashima crashed yesterday, and was taken to hospital to have surgery on a broken finger. Hopefully he will be back in Sachsenring, although the doctors have to make a decision first.
Assen, once more, has not disappointed. It is only qualifying day but this weekend might be the best of the season already. In Q2, just 0.376 seconds separated the top ten riders, and it seemed like almost each of those twelve had a spell in pole position.
In the end, though, it was Marc Marquez who took his 75th Grand Prix pole position, his third of 2018 and first at Assen in the premier class. The result for Marquez was somewhat expected; despite suffering with the front quite a lot this weekend, he has been fast throughout and was always going to be difficult to beat to the first grid slot. All of his lap time came in the final sector, perhaps predictably, and this is important for tomorrow, because if he is fighting for the win come lap 26 he is absolutely going to be able to launch his #93 Honda up the inside of whoever is in front of him into the final chicane. He probably will be there, too; along with Maverick Vinales, Marquez has enjoyed the best race pace of anyone this weekend, and is probably the favourite tomorrow. He is the only rider who can make the 2018 Dutch TT a dull race.
Cal Crutchlow made it a Honda 1-2 in qualifying, with a strong fastest lap at the end of Q2 to secure his spot in the middle of the front row. The critical thing for Cal tomorrow will be track temperature, and how that affects the front tyre, which is once again the limiting factor for Honda this weekend. His pace looks quite strong, too – if he can go with the front riders from the start then he can battle for the podium.
Also likely to be in that battle is Valentino Rossi, who qualified third. The Italian has seemed to have the pace to fight for a fourth consecutive podium all weekend, and maybe even a first win of 2018. However, his weekend took a negative turn when he crashed at the very high speed turn seven, Ruskenhoek, in FP4. This crash not only upset his rhythm into qualifying, but also hindered his race preparation for tomorrow, and cost him valuable minutes in FP4 where he might have wanted to try something different. Anyway, he recovered well to be third fastest in what was a very competitive Q2, and put himself in a good position to end both his and Yamaha’s year long winless run.
Andrea Dovizioso. Image courtesy of Ducati
Andrea Dovizioso has looked strong all weekend too, enjoying pace superior to that of his Honda bound teammate; Jorge Lorenzo, and pace enough to be in the frame for a third podium of 2018. For Dovi, it was important to qualify well to allow him to use his good pace from the beginning of tomorrow’s race, and he managed to do that, qualifying fourth. Ducati have been without a win in Assen since 2008 with Casey Stoner (who else?), their only Dutch TT win, but now Dovi is in a very good position to be able add a second victory to that, and if things go his way, maybe even bring himself back into championship contention.
Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales join Dovi on the second row, in fifth and sixth respectively. For Rins, this was a great result, as he out-qualified teammate Andrea Iannone, and recovered well from what had been a difficult weekend up to qualifying. It will be interesting to see whether the steps he seemed to have made for qualifying will also translate into race pace.
For Vinales, sixth is something of a disappointment. Over the whole weekend the number 25 had looked good, constantly being amongst the top riders in all practice sessions, and having strong race pace as well as decent one-lap speed. However, being less than 0.2 seconds off the pole position time of Marquez in Q2 was not enough for Vinales to qualify any better than sixth. The most important thing for Vinales is, as ever, to make a good start and go with the leaders on the first laps. If he can do that, he has the pace to win.
The third row is headed up by a very impressive Aleix Espargaro, who is joined on row three by Johann Zarco, who has seemed to struggle this weekend, and Andrea Iannone who, with one minute to go, was running second in Q2.
Jorge Lorenzo qualified in tenth place, just 0.376 seconds off the pole time, and with one minute to go, he was on pole. Either way, Jorge has struggled more this weekend compared to the last two races, and has been generally slower than his teammate, Dovizioso. However, it is difficult to discount Lorenzo from podium contention in the race given his recent form, but he will need to find something big in morning warm up.
Lorenzo’s Ducati replacement for 2019, Danilo Petrucci, will line up between Lorenzo and the slowest rider of Q2, Alvaro Bautista. Bautista tends to race a lot better than he qualifies, so it will be interesting to see what he can do from twelfth tomorrow.
Bradley Smith signing fan’s hats. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer/KTM
Thirteenth place went to Takaaki Nakagami, who is alongside Tito Rabat and Hafizh Syahrin on row five tomorrow; row six consists of Jack Miller, Scott Redding and a struggling Dani Pedrosa; row seven will be occupied by Karel Abraham, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro and the two riders on row eight are Tom Luthi and Xavier Simeon.
Franco Morbidelli suffered a broken metacarpal in FP3 this morning and was ruled unfit, so only 23 bikes will start tomorrow. Hopefully Franky will be back in Sachsenring.
