Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia won the 2022 edition of the Dutch TT at Assen, as MotoGP championship leader Fabio Quartararo crashed into his main title rival Aleix Espargaro.
The fifth lap of the race marked comfortably the most contentious incident of the 2022 title race so far, as Quartararo lunged down the inside of Espargaro at Strubben for second place and went wide, crashing moments later and taking Espargaro with him into the gravel.
THE TOP TWO IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COLLIDE! š„
Both have remounted, @AleixEspargaro 15th and @FabioQ20 24th! š±#DutchGP š³š± pic.twitter.com/XTngVZIaBI
— MotoGPā¢š (@MotoGP) June 26, 2022
The Aprilia man was able to roll out and continue in 15th, while Quartararo remounted but struggled to extract any meaningful pace in the likely-damaged Yamaha M1 ā pulling into the pits and then rejoining to have a massive highside at, again, Strubben. It marked the reigning champion’s first MotoGP retirement since 2021.
DOWN AGAIN! š¤Æ@FabioQ20 highsides out of Turn 5! š±#DutchGP š³š± pic.twitter.com/yUiFrPsh49
— MotoGPā¢š (@MotoGP) June 26, 2022
Quartararo was having to find a way through on Espargaro in the first place because heād allowed the Aprilia man through while running wide at Turn 1 in an attempt to put opening-lap pressure on Bagnaia.
Heād also dropped behind Pramac Ducatiās Jorge Martin but immediately re-passed him and then pulled off an actual clean move on Espargaro at Strubben that nonetheless wasnāt enough to keep him ahead for the rest of the lap.
Bagnaia, Espargaro and Quartararo then established themselves as the lead group, but Esparagroās ill-fated overtaking attempt suddenly made things so much more comfortable for the Italian, handing him a lead of a second over VR46 rookie and fellow Valentino Rossi protege Marco Bezzecchi.
That lead started to oscillate a bit when rain drops threatened to turn into something more for the final 10 laps of the race, but anything close to a proper shower wouldnāt follow ā and Bagnaia comfortably saw out the race.
Bezzecchi bagged the first rookie podium of the season (and his VR46’s maiden podium in MotoGP) behind him, while Maverick Vinales celebrated his first podium on the Aprilia ā having last visited the rostrum on the Yamaha at the same track last year.
Vinalesā podium was made possible by him seeing off a late attack from Jack Miller, who thrived in the uncertain late-race conditions, having recovered from 10th after serving a long-lap penalty for impeding none other than Vinales in qualifying.
Miller lunged down the inside of Vinales at the Geert Timmer chicane on the penultimate lap but couldnāt make the move stick, instead dropping into the clutches of KTMās Brad Binder.
However, the real show was yet to come. Charging from 15th place, Espargaro arrived on the back of the duo and passed both in one move into the Geert Timmer chicane on the final lap, securing fourth place and reducing Quartararoās championship lead to 21 points.
Binder also found his way through Miller for fifth, while Martin ā who ran third for much of the race but floundered once grip worsened ā settling for eighth.
Joan Mir was bizarrely hit by Miguel Oliveiraās KTM on the grid, and ended up beating Oliveira to eighth by a tenth of a second ā with Mirās Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins another three tenths back.
Quartararo, who arrived to Espargaro’s pit box after the race to apologise, wasnāt the only Yamaha rider to hit the deck, with Franco Morbidelli likewise falling at Strubben ā albeit just the once ā soon after being assessed a double long-lap penalty for failing to serve the original penalty heād incurred for impeding in practice.
Yamaha's luck takes a bigger downturn! š¢@FrankyMorbido12 crashes out at the same corner as his teammate! š„#DutchGP š³š± pic.twitter.com/Z7yLrDBd3Q
— MotoGPā¢š (@MotoGP) June 26, 2022
RNF Yamaha rookie Darryn Binder fell, too, his M1 torn to pieces by the gravel trap at Stekkenwal, while Andrea Doviziosoās 16th-place finish ensured Yamaha took no points out of Assen.
The only rider to retire aside from the three Yamahas was Raul Fernandez of Tech3 KTM, the rookie pulling into the pits with a reported case of arm pump.
Race Results
Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Laps | Laps Led | Total Time | Fastest Lap | Pitstops | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 26 | 26 | 40m25.205s | 1m32.608s | 0 | 25 |
2 | Marco Bezzecchi | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.689s | 0 | 20 |
3 | Maverick ViƱales | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.688s | 0 | 16 |
4 | Aleix EspargarĆ³ | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.5s | 0 | 13 |
5 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.694s | 0 | 11 |
6 | Jack Miller | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.769s | 0 | 10 |
7 | Jorge Martin | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.673s | 0 | 9 |
8 | Joan Mir | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.635s | 0 | 8 |
9 | Miguel Oliveira | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.969s | 0 | 7 |
10 | Alex Rins | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.629s | 0 | 6 |
11 | Enea Bastianini | Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.897s | 0 | 5 |
12 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.862s | 0 | 4 |
13 | Johann Zarco | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m32.874s | 0 | 3 |
14 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m33.057s | 0 | 2 |
15 | Alex Marquez | LCR Honda Castrol | Honda | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m33.246s | 0 | 1 |
16 | Andrea Dovizioso | WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team | Yamaha | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m33.582s | 0 | 0 |
17 | Luca Marini | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m33.774s | 0 | 0 |
18 | Stefan Bradl | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-46s | 1m33.676s | 0 | 0 |
19 | Remy Gardner | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-45s | 1m33.742s | 0 | 0 |
20 | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 26 | 0 | +-40m0-45s | 1m33.727s | 0 | 0 |
Raul Fernandez | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 18 | 0 | DNF | 1m34.068s | 0 | 0 | |
Fabio Quartararo | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 11 | 0 | DNF | 1m32.603s | 0 | 0 | |
Darryn Binder | WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team | Yamaha | 8 | 0 | DNF | 1m33.722s | 0 | 0 | |
Franco Morbidelli | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 8 | 0 | DNF | 1m33.999s | 0 | 0 |