Dutch MotoGP: Bagnaia triumphs as Quartararo crashes out

Francesco Bagnaia returned to winning ways at Assen, bringing himself back into world championship contention. Mooney VR 46 Racing rider and MotoGP rookie Marco Bezzecchi took his first premier-class podium by finishing second, while Maverick Vinales finished third and took his first podium in Aprilia Racing colours. 

• Quartararo crashes twice
• Bezzecchi takes a maiden MotoGP podium
• Aleix Espargaro overcomes all odds to finish 4th

Ducati riders take 1-2 finish

Bagnaia, who was in pole position, took the lead at the start of the race and stayed there unperturbed for the entirety of it. Bezzecchi, who started the race from fourth on the grid, initially dropped to fifth after being overtaken by Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin. However, he did not stay there for long, overtaking everyone but Bagnaia in front of him to comfortably clinch second place on his year-old Ducati GP21.

Quartararo handed a lap-long penalty for next race  

Reigning World Champion Fabio Quartararo was engaged in a tense battle for third place with, arguably, the biggest threat to his title aspirations this year – Aprilia Racing rider Aleix Espargaro. At the Strubben corner on Lap 8, Quartararo lunged toward the inside of Espargaro, colliding with him and subsequently crashing out. This manoeuvre, in turn, pushed the Aprilia Racing rider out into the gravel trap, dropping him down to 15th place when he rejoined the track.

Quartararo wasn’t yet out of the race, though. He got back up and after a visit to the pits, he continued lapping (even though he was two laps down compared to the others), until a nasty high side put an end to any hope of him finishing, let alone scoring points.

This incident, reviewed by the stewards’ panel, has handed him a long-lap penalty at the next race in Silverstone.

Aleix Espargaro makes a spectacular comeback

When title contender Espargaro rejoined the race, he found himself in 15th place, a distant 12 places down compared to his previous position. What followed from this moment onward was a charge through the pack ahead. Claiming victims lap after lap, Espargaro reeled in a total of 11 riders after rejoining, two of them at the penultimate corner.

The final lap of the race found Aleix in sixth position, behind the tussling duo of KTM’s Sunday man Brad Binder and Ducati’s Jack Miller. At the ‘Geert Timmer’ chicane, while Binder was lining up a move on Miller, Aleix lined up a move on them both and overtook them to finish fourth, just 2.6sec behind race-winner Bagnaia.

Yamaha comes home empty-handed

Quartararo wasn’t the only Yamaha rider to crash out. Teammate Franco Morbidelli, who’s been having a nightmare of a season so far, crashed out at the same corner as well. MotoGP rookie and RNF Yamaha rider, Darryn Binder, also found himself in the gravel trap. The only Yamaha machine to finish the race at the track known as the ‘Cathedral of Speed’ was Andrea Dovizioso’s RNF Yamaha; albeit it was a luckless 16th-place finish with no points awarded.

2022 MotoGP Championship Standings

Quartararo came into this race with a 34-point lead over his nearest rival. But as he crashed out in spectacular fashion and Aleix overcame all odds to finish fourth, that lead has shrunk down to 21 points.

2022 Dutch MotoGP results