Assen MotoGP: Espargaro pips Quartararo in FP3 despite shunt

The damp and rainy conditions of Friday had given way for the start of the first fully dry session of the Assen weekend in FP3.

It would take just nine minutes for Francesco Bagnaia’s best lap from the drying FP2 session on Friday to be toppled, with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales making the move.

• Click here to be a part of the largest MotoGP survey – to have your voice heard and shape the future of the sport

Last year’s Assen poleman went fastest of all with a 1m32.960s, which he would improve around six minutes late to a 1m32.911s to lead his former Yamaha teammate Fabio Quartararo.

Teammate Espargaro slotted into the top three and will be one of the most relieved riders on Saturday morning, after a technical infringement in FP2 led to all of his slick tyre laps being cancelled and demoting him to last on the combined timesheets and threatened his Q2 hopes.

He would take over from Vinales with just under 12 minutes of the 45-minute session remaining with a 1m32.518s on a fresh soft rear slick.

Espargaro would go on to improve to a 1m32.164s a few moments later, but would be denied any further gains when he crashed going through Turn 3 at the end of the session.

Championship leader Quartararo cemented second with a 1m32.166s to shadow Espargaro by 0.002s, though this lap was cancelled after the chequered flag.

However, an earlier 1m32.205s still kept him second as Vinales initially rounded out the top three.

But he too had his best lap cancelled, which dropped him to seventh.

Alex Rins made late gains to fourth to bag himself a place in Q2 in qualifying, though his Suzuki teammate Joan Mir – who had a fairing come loose at the start of FP3 – missed the cut in 11th by 0.084s.

LCR Honda’s Takaak Nakagami leaped up to fifth with his final lap to head VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi and Friday pacesetter Bagnaia on the factory team Ducati – Vinales’ lap cancellation promoted Rins down to Bagnaia up a spot.

Pramac duo Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco, who crashed at Turn 7 late on, slotted in behind Bagnaia, with Jack Miller on the sister factory team GP22.

There were also crashes for Gresini duo Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio, as well as Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli – all three riders dropping into Q1 as a result.

Morbidelli has also been handed a long lap penalty to be served in Sunday’s race for blocking two riders in FP2 on Friday.

No KTM riders made it directly into Q2 in FP3, with Brad Binder the leading RC16 in 14th ahead of teammate Miguel Oliveira.

Ahead of FP3, Honda announced Pol Espargaro had withdrawn from the rest of the weekend due to injuries he sustained in Germany. Teammate Stefan Bradl was 22nd at the end of FP3 on the sole remaining factory team Honda.

Qualifying for the 2022 MotoGP Dutch GP gets underway at 2:10pm local time.

Assen MotoGP - FP3 results:

Cla	Rider		Bike	Time	Gap
1	Aleix Espargaro		Aprilia	1'32.164
2	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha	1'32.205	0.041
3	Alex Rins		Suzuki	1'32.320	0.156
4	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	1'32.355	0.191
5	Marco Bezzecchi		Ducati	1'32.382	0.218
6	Francesco Bagnaia		Ducati	1'32.440	0.276
7	Maverick Viñales		Aprilia	1'32.487	0.323
8	Jorge Martin		Ducati	1'32.592	0.428
9	Johann Zarco		Ducati	1'32.726	0.562
10	Jack Miller		Ducati	1'32.878	0.714
11	Joan Mir		Suzuki	1'32.962	0.798
12	Fabio Di Giannantonio		Ducati	1'32.999	0.835
13	Franco Morbidelli		Yamaha	1'33.036	0.872
14	Brad Binder		KTM	1'33.128	0.964
15	Miguel Oliveira		KTM	1'33.148	0.984
16	Luca Marini		Ducati	1'33.177	1.013
17	Enea Bastianini		Ducati	1'33.261	1.097
18	Lorenzo Savadori		Aprilia	1'33.281	1.117
19	Andrea Dovizioso		Yamaha	1'33.346	1.182
20	Alex Marquez		Honda	1'33.605	1.441
21	Remy Gardner		KTM	1'33.639	1.475
22	Stefan Bradl		Honda	1'34.180	2.016
23	Raúl Fernández		KTM	1'34.623	2.459
24	Darryn Binder		Yamaha	1'34.957	2.793
	Pol Espargaro		Honda
View full results