Pole #75 for Marquez

So close was today’s qualifying session in Assen that the riders on the front row ended up within just 0.059”, whilst the top-10 were split by less than 4 tenths of a second.

Well aware of how tight things were going to be today, and will be tomorrow, Marc Marquez worked hard with his crew to prepare for both the race and for the time-attack, which earned him his 75th career pole and 47th pole in MotoGP (his first in MotoGP at Assen).

The Championship leader topped all three sessions today, showing good race pace and blistering speed.

“So far this weekend, things are going better than we were hoping for," said Marquez.

"The pole has not been one of my strongest points this year, and actually this will be the first time I’ll start form the top spot, because in Austin I earned the pole but was moved back to fourth. I was very happy with the rhythm I could keep in FP3 and FP4 and now I’m even more happy for the Q2 result.

"We’re trying and working in a good way. At this track stability is one of the main targets to achieve and step by step we improved that a bit. Our first goal is a podium finish but honestly we now have the possibility to fight for the victory. We must remain focused and work well in tomorrow’s warm-up to try and make another little step to improve the stability and to make the final choice for the tires.”

It’s Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) who starts second and as top Independent Team rider, with 10-time winner at the venue Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) completing the front row.

The mad dash for pole was true to its name as the final 30 seconds saw everything shuffle and shuffle again, with Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) and Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) initially seeming to have the advantage before that final lap for the majority of those in the session – and the emergence of Marquez at the top. But it’s just 0.041 back to Crutchlow and 0.059 back to Rossi, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) heading the second row despite only being 0.079 off pole!

Marquez is on his way to another title

The Italian is joined on Row 2 by the first of the Q1 graduates as Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) impressed on his first run and his second to secure P5 as top Hamamatsu factory machine. Friday’s fastest Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) starts sixth and still within two tenths of pole, with the Spaniard hoping for a better launch off the line than in Barcelona.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) continued his solid weekend as he converted automatic entry to Q2 into seventh on the grid – as well as making it five manufacturers in the top seven. Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who topped Q1 after a stunning final dash, starts from the middle of the third row – just getting the better of Iannone, who lost out in the last few seconds.

Qualifying Results

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nat	Team	Make	Behind	Session
1S	MARQUEZ Marc	93	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1'32.791	Q2
2	CRUTCHLOW Cal	35	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	0.041	Q2
3	ROSSI Valentino	46	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.059	Q2
4	DOVIZIOSO Andrea	4	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	0.079	Q2
5	RINS Alex	42	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.142	Q2
6	VINALES Maverick	25	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.193	Q2
7	ESPARGARO Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	0.238	Q2
8	ZARCO Johann	5	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	0.281	Q2
9	IANNONE Andrea	29	ITA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.329	Q2
10	LORENZO Jorge	99	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	0.376	Q2
11	PETRUCCI Danilo	9	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.501	Q2
12	BAUTISTA Alvaro	19	SPA	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	1.224	Q2
13	NAKAGAMI Takaaki	30	JPN	LCR Honda	Honda	1'33.625	Q1
14	RABAT Tito	53	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	0.088	Q1
15	SYAHRIN Hafizh	55	MAL	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	0.088	Q1
16	MILLER Jack	43	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.094	Q1
17	REDDING Scott	45	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	0.417	Q1
18	PEDROSA Dani	26	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0.547	Q1
19	ABRAHAM Karel	17	CZE	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	0.567	Q1
20	SMITH Bradley	38	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.571	Q1
21	ESPARGARO Pol	44	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.690	Q1
22	LUTHI Tom	12	SWI	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1.614	Q1
23	SIMEON Xavier	10	BEL	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	2.068	Q1
24	MORBIDELLI Franco	21	ITA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	0.593	Q1