Bagnaia Dominates MotoGP Dutch GP, Closes Championship Gap to Martin

Francesco Bagnaia dominated the Dutch GP at Assen to take a third consecutive victory and closes the championship gap to Martin.

Francesco Bagnaia would make another clean getaway from the field, with Jorge Martin recovering immediately on his Pramac Ducati from fifth on the grid, overtaking a couple of riders into the first corner and later making his way past Maverick Vinales.

Alex Rins would have a major high-side on his Factory Yamaha on the exit of the first corner, rescued by the marshals and medical team as they made sure that he wasn’t harmed.

Marc Marquez would dive up the inside of Maverick Vinales’ Aprilia early on, taking third place as he attempted to chase after the leading Ducati’s. Marquez would be given a track limits warning as well as the Spaniard pushed incredibly hard, with Vinales right on his tail.

Fabio Di Giannantonio would make two moves into the final chicane, first on Pedro Acosta for fifth place, and just a couple of laps later he would find his way past Vinales who seemed to struggle for grip as his Aprilia made a couple of mistakes, the pair both right behind Marquez in third.

Di Giannantonio would eventually find his way through on Marquez for third as some riders began struggling for tyre grip within the first 10 laps. Marquez appeared to run slightly wide at Turn 11’s tight left-hander which allowed the VR46 Ducati through.

Enea Bastianini was attempting to replicate his success in the Sprint Race yesterday, he came through from 11th on the grid to finish 4th in the Sprint, and was pacing himself for the first half of the race, sitting in 7th place as he caught the riders battling for the podium places.

Pedro Acosta was running sixth as he began to have rear tyre grip issues on his Red Bull GasGas KTM, the bike could be seen twitching on the exits of a few corners as Bastianini closed and eventually passed Acosta into Turn 5’s long left-hander.

Di Giannantonio ran wide at Turn 11 on Lap 19, with Marquez attempting to get underneath him and make an overtake. However, with Vinales coming on the right hand side of Di Giannantonio, the VR46 rider almost collected Marquez, the trio of riders running three-wide into Turn 12, as Vinales took third place.

Bastianini would draw alongside Marquez heading into Turn 1 on Lap 21, Marquez turning across the Italian and being run wide, losing the place to Bastianini as he was then attacked by Di Giannantonio. Eventually, heading into the final chicane on Lap 22, Bastianini would draw alongside and then slip up the inside of Vinales to take third, with the leaders holding a decent lead over the rest of the field.

In the closing stages of the race, Marquez would challenge Vinales for fourth, taking the position on the long left-hander before the final chicane as Vinales ran too deep and clipped the outside kerb. Pedro Acosta would unfortunately crash in the middle sector on the final lap, having struggled with tyre grip throughout the race with the bike eventually proving too difficult to handle.

Vinales would run slightly wide into the penultimate corner, the FIM demoting him by one place as Di Giannantonio now takes 5th place.

Francesco Bagnaia would come home to take a historic victory as Assen, becoming the first rider to achieve 3 consecutive premier class wins at Assen since Mick Doohan in the 1990’s. Bagnaia also closes his championship gap to Martin, the pair separated by just 10 points.

MotoGP Dutch GP – Grand Prix Results

1st Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati
2nd Jorge Martin, Pramac Ducati
3rd Enea Bastianini, Ducati

4th Marc Marquez, Gresini Ducati
5th Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Ducati
6th Maverick Vinales, Aprilia
7th Brad Binder, Red Bull Factory KTM
8th Alex Marquez, Gresini Ducati
9th Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Aprilia
10th Franco Morbidelli, Pramac Ducati
11th Jack Miller, Red Bull Factory KTM
12th Fabio Quartararo, Monster Yamaha
13th Johann Zarco, LCR Honda
14th Augusto Fernandez, Red Bull GasGas KTM Tech3
15th Miguel Oliveira, Trackhouse Aprilia

16th Takaaki Nakagami, LCR Honda
17th Luca Marini, Repsol Factory Honda
DNF Pedro Acosta, Red Bull GasGas KTM Tech3
DNF Joan Mir, Repsol Factory Honda
DNF Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Ducati
DNF Alex Rins, Monster Yamaha
DNF Lorenzo Savadori, Aprilia

Featured images – Ducati