MotoGP – Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) pitch-perfect for TT Assen victory.

pecco-_10__uc301656_high.small

391966_miguel-oliveira_red-bull-ktm_motogp_rc16_tt-circuit-assen-_ned_27-06-2021-21.small

c98gkhxgrey7mzwztyss7w_thumb_249.small

93-marc-marquezphgu2468_0.small

_92g6320_1.small

uolp_0_0.small

5fmepckdsuabnydcjxo3la_thumb_246.small

_gp_4079_0_1.small

E45CYfhXwAQS_8i

For the fourth time in 2021 Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) tasted victory after delivering a pitch-perfect performance at the Cathedral of Speed to lead a factory Yamaha 1-2 at the Motul TT Assen. Maverick Viñales goes from last in Germany to second in the Netherlands, a fantastic return to form, as reigning World Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) battled his way to a third podium of the season. Both polesitter Viñales and second place Quartararo got very good launches as the lights went out. Quartararo’s was slightly better, the Frenchman chopping the nose off his teammate into Turn 1 and the title chase leader grabbed the holeshot. Viñales was shoved down to P5, as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) went for a Lap 1 leap for the lead at Turn 8. It was close between Quartararo and Pecco, their exits were compromised, Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) was up alongside the pair as Quartararo ran hot into Turn 9. Bagnaia said thank you very much, the Italian now led.

Quartararo was so much quicker through Assen’s unique kinks on the run towards the final chicane. At said chicane, Quartararo went for a move but was wide, and Bagnaia got his GP21 stood up and blasted back past. This happened again on Lap 6, before Lap 7 saw Quartararo grabbed P1 through Turns 12 and 13. How crucial was that going to prove? Meanwhile, Nakagami was still holding Viñales at bay, with Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing), Mir and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) line astern right behind.

Two 1:32.8s saw Quartararo stretch a 1.2s lead to Bagnaia on Lap 9. On Lap 11, that gap was up to 2.5s as Bagnaia now had to focus on keeping Nakagami behind him. The Japanese rider passed the Ducati rider on Lap 11 through the rapid kinks, but Bagnaia grabbed P2 back down the front straight. Viñales, Zarco, Mir and Oliveira were all waiting in the wings. It was copy and paste of Nakagami vs Bagnaia a couple of laps later, before Bagnaia was handed a long-lap penalty for exceeding track limits too many times.

On Lap 15, there was plenty of action. Bagnaia dived into the long-lap penalty loop, teammate Miller crashed unhurt at Turn 5, Nakagami was sat up by Mir at the same corner and it was now Viñales in second place, four seconds behind runaway leader Quartararo. Miller re-joined but was given the black flag and orange flag, meaning the Australian was out of the race. Mir was past Zarco at Turn 5 with eight laps to go and into third place, Oliveira was around half a second away from Zarco in fifth. The gap came down to 2.5s with two laps to go between Quartararo and Viñales, but no one had an answer to El Diablo at Assen as the Frenchman tasted Dutch delight in 2021, a fourth 25-point haul of the season to extend his Championship advantage to 34 points heading into the summer break. Viñales delivered impressive late-race pace on the front soft tyre, but it wasn’t enough to reel in Quartararo. Nevertheless, after finishing last at the Sachsenring, P2 for the Spaniard is a splendid effort as the number 12 returns to the podium for the first time since his Qatar GP win. Mir’s podium is his third of the season, yet another brilliant comeback ride from P10 on the grid.

The leading Ducati at Assen was Zarco in fourth place. The Frenchman was just 0.3s away from the final podium spot, with fifth place Oliveira having to give up the chase to the podium finishers – the Portuguese rider ends the day P5, 8.4s off the win. Bagnaia recovered to P6 after his long-lap penalty, a solid salvage job from the Italian, who beats Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) by 0.075s. The eight-time World Champion, starting 20th, battered and bruised from Friday’s huge highside, strung together a magnificent ride to secure 7th in the Netherlands. A much-needed five-week break is coming up for the Spaniard.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) was in fight with Pecco and Marc Marquez, the Aprilia rider takes home P8, with Nakagami slipping to P9 after such a strong opening half of the race. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) took the chequered flag in a lonely P10.

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was involved in a Turn 10 incident with Zarco in the opening exchanges, the Spaniard was well inside the top 10 fight before taking a trip through the gravel. Rins got his head down from last place and clawed his way back up to a P11, nothing more could be done by Rins on Sunday afternoon. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) started P21 and finished P12, six seconds ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) in 13th. Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) and Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) take home the remaining points on offer, Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini), Garrett Gerloff (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Luca Marini (SKY VR46 Avintia) were the other finishers.

Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) crashed at Turn 7, rider ok, with Iker Lecuona (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) crashing unhurt at Turn 17. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) retired halfway through the race.

So it’s Quartararo standing on top of the podium again. The Frenchman is on top of the world as we hit the halfway point of 2021, can anyone stop Quartararo in August and beyond? Who knows. The Styrian GP is up next on the 6-8 of August, as the fight for the MotoGP™ title resumes at the stunning Red Bull Ring.

Top 10:
1. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP)
2. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 2.757
3. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 5.760
4. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) + 6.130
5. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 8.402
6. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 10.035
7. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 10.110
8. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 10.346
9. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 12.225
10. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) + 18.565.

MOTUL TT ASSEN

MotoGP Race Classification 2021

Assen, Sunday, June 27, 2021

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	174.5	40’35.031
2	20	12	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	174.3	+2.757
3	16	36	Joan MIR	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	174.1	+5.760
4	13	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	174.1	+6.130
5	11	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	173.9	+8.402
6	10	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	173.8	+10.035
7	9	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	173.8	+10.110
8	8	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	173.8	+10.346
9	7	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	173.7	+12.225
10	6	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	173.2	+18.565
11	5	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	173.0	+21.372
12	4	33	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	173.0	+21.676
13	3	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	172.6	+27.783
14	2	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	172.4	+29.772
15	1	23	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Avintia Esponsorama	Ducati	172.2	+32.785
16		32	Lorenzo SAVADORI	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	171.9	+37.573
17		31	Garrett GERLOFF	USA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	170.8	+53.213
18		10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY VR46 Avintia	Ducati	169.9	+1’06.791
Not Classified
		27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	173.0	8 Laps
		43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	167.8	8 Laps
		89	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	170.5	12 Laps
		46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	170.3	19 Laps

MotoGP World Standing 2021

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	FRA	156
2	Johann ZARCO	Ducati	FRA	122
3	Francesco BAGNAIA	Ducati	ITA	109
4	Joan MIR	Suzuki	SPA	101
5	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	100
6	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	95
7	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	85
8	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	61
9	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	60
10	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	50
11	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	41
12	Pol ESPARGARO	Honda	SPA	41
13	Franco MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	ITA	40
14	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	33
15	Alex MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	27
16	Enea BASTIANINI	Ducati	ITA	27
17	Danilo PETRUCCI	KTM	ITA	26
18	Jorge MARTIN	Ducati	SPA	23
19	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	17
20	Luca MARINI	Ducati	ITA	14
21	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	13
22	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	11
23	Lorenzo SAVADORI	Aprilia	ITA	4
24	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	3
25	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	1
26	Garrett GERLOFF	Yamaha	USA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com