Raúl Fernández vindicates himself with a sprint victory in Assen

The Spanish rider Raúl Fernández (Aprilia) achieved victory this Saturday in the MotoGP sprint race of the Grand Prix of the Netherlands, the tenth round of the Motorcycle World Championship, in which he finished ahead of the Japanese Ai Ogura (Aprilia) and the Italian Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati), while Jorge Martín (Aprilia) closed the ‘Top 5’ and Marc Márquez (Ducati) was seventh.

Still without a guaranteed future in MotoGP, the Madrid native offered a sample of his potential this Saturday in Assen. Starting from fourth place, he rose to the top and defended his lead to lead the double of the Aprilia satellites, with ‘Diggia’ as the only Ducati among the top five positions.

In the fight for the lead, the Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) increased his advantage over the second placed, Martín, from seven to nine points, finishing fourth just ahead of the one from San Sebastián de los Reyes. Meanwhile, Marc Márquez also gave up on his teammate, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), and finished seventh behind him; Now, the Catalan is 43 units behind the leader.

Without Fermín Aldeguer (Ducati) on the grid, declared unfit after fracturing a vertebra due to his fall on Friday, Ogura took command of the race after overtaking poleman Martín once the traffic lights went out, although the one from San Sebastián de los Reyes regained the lead shortly after.

On the fourth of the 13 laps scheduled in Assen, Raúl Fernández took advantage of his great pace to take the lead while Martín left the podium positions. Bezzecchi, just behind, overtook the Spaniard on the eighth lap to increase his lead in the general standings, just after Márquez also gave up his position to Bagnaia to fall to seventh place.

Little by little, Fernández put ground between his pursuers and secured the second sprint victory of the course -after the one achieved in Mugello-, the third counting races on Sunday -with the victory of Phillip Island-.

Pedro Acosta (KTM) closed the points zone, ninth, while Alex Márquez (Ducati), recovered from Friday’s crash, could only be thirteenth. Alex Rins (Yamaha) finished fifteenth, ahead of Maverick Viñales (KTM), and Augusto Fernández (Yamaha) was eighteenth. Joan Mir (Honda) crashed and was unable to complete the event.

Early in the morning, ‘Martinator’ had taken pole in Assen in a fast-paced Q2 in which, with a time of 1:30.812, he beat the Japanese Ai Ogura (Aprilia) by just 11 thousandths, with Bezzecchi completing the front row.

This Sunday Raúl Fernández will start again from the second row, fourth, while Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta will share the third, seventh and eighth respectively. In addition, Joan Mir will start tenth and Alex Márquez, twelfth. Among those who did not manage to pass Q1, Alex Rins will start again fifteenth, Maverick Viñales will start nineteenth and Augusto Fernández, twentieth.

QUILES FLY FOR THE POLE ON MOTO3

In Moto3, 25 thousandths allowed the solid World Championship leader, the Spanish Máximo Quiles (KTM), to beat the Australian Joel Kelso (Honda) in Q2 and guarantee himself the first starting position, heading a first starting row that will be closed by Brian Uriarte (KTM), second last weekend in the race in Brno.

Adrián Cruces (KTM) and David Almansa (KTM) will start fifth and sixth from the second row, and from the third the second classified overall, Álvaro Carpe (KTM), will start eighth. Adrián Fernández (Honda) and Marcos Uriarte (KTM) also advanced to Q2 and will start tenth and eleventh, respectively. Jesús Ríos (Honda), twenty-first, and Joel Esteban (KTM), twenty-second, will start from the rearmost part of the grid.

ALONSO COMMANDS IN Q2 OF MOTO2, WITH MANU GONZÁLEZ EIGHTH

Finally, the Colombian David Alonso (Kalex) secured the Moto2 pole ahead of the Spaniards Alberto Ferrández (Boscoscuro) and Izan Guevara (Boscoscuro), with Dani Muñoz (Kalex) and Dani Holgado (Kalex) completing the ‘Top 5’ of the session.

Manu González (Kalex), leading the general classification of the intermediate displacement with 50.5 points ahead of Guevara, will have to climb positions from eighth place in a third row in which Alex Escrig (Forward), ninth, will also start.

Adrián Huertas (Kalex) will start the event thirteenth, Iván Ortolá (Kalex) will start sixteenth and Arón Canet (Boscoscuro), seventeenth. Among those who did not pass Q1, Ángel Piqueras (Kalex) will start nineteenth; José Antonio Rueda (Kalex) will start twenty-first; Xabi Zurutuza (Forward), twenty-fourth; Sergio García Dols (Kalex), twenty-fifth; and Jorge Navarro (Kalex), twenty-eighth and last.