MotoGP Assen FP3: Maverick Vinales goes 3/3 in Assen

Maverick Vinales once again leads the way in the FP3 session.

Maverick Vinales repeats the past once again leading the way in the FP3 session after finishing in last place at Sachsenring, he has confirmed he is not using Quartararo’s settings but instead is using his settings from Sachsenring. Something has clicked for him this weekend and he is doing very well, but in typical Vinales fashion it’s very unlikely it’ll continue as historically he has impressed in one round before running outside the top 10 the round following. He has a new crew chief now so he could be moving in a more positive direction in his third race with Silvano Galbusera.

The FP3 times and the combined were identical which makes my life much easier typing this out, we saw a Yamaha factory 1-2 lead the way overall, we expected Yamaha to be strong here given their recent history as their bike has always gone well here, interestingly Yamaha and Honda share the wins equally going back to 2012 with each manufacturer winning every other race, Honda taking wins in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 then Yamaha winning in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019, if history repeats itself again then we will see a Yamaha win tomorrow to continue the pattern and you can bet your life savings on it being Vinales who will cheer about how he’s ‘back’ as he did in Misano last year before falling back into old habits.

It was an Espargaro duo in P3 and P4 with Pol leading Aleix, both riders going incredibly well around here. Pol has changed to use Marquez’s settings and seems to be doing very well impressing in every session all weekend with Aleix following suit, Aleix better get a podium tomorrow or there will be riots on the EMR podcast.

To continue the pattern of duo’s we have the Suzuki duo of Joan Mir then Alex Rins in the P5 and P6 positions, Mir has confirmed he is ready for all conditions this weekend and has backed this up going straight into Q2 with his teammate, something fairly rare for Suzuki even in their title-winning season.

Miguel Oliveira was the eighth fastest rider ahead of Valentino Rossi who gets himself into Q2, Valentino going very well around the Assen track winning a massive 10 races around here with 8 in the premier class. Jack Miller lead a Ducati quartet with Zarco in P11, Bagnaia in P12 and Martin in P13, the Ducati really struggling around here given their machines size and inability to corner.

We have some major names in Q1 including the previously mentioned riders after Miller plus both Marquez’s and Brad Binder.

Full FP3 Results – 

Full combined results –