Faultless Fabio Quartararo conquers the ‘Cathedral of Speed’ in MotoGP’s Dutch Grand Prix

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Fabio Quartararo was victorious at Assen ahead of Maverick Vinales and Joan Mir as he pulls even further ahead in the standings going into the summer break.

The ‘Cathedral of Speed’ weaves through the Dutch countryside. Its prestigious twists and turns of the 2.82-mile track have been a staple of the MotoGP calendar since 1950 and have made a welcome return in 2021 following its absence last season due to the COVID pandemic.

Starting Grid

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On pole position was Maverick Vinales, who set a superb 1:31.814 in Saturday’s second qualifying session. The Spaniard headed the front row ahead of his Factory Yamaha teammate and Championship leader Fabio Quartararo and Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.

Row two was made up of Takaaki Nakagami who qualified fourth ahead of Johann Zarco in fifth and KTM’s Miguel Oliviera in sixth.

The winner last time out, Marc Marquez, qualified 20th – only ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder and Garrett Gerloff who came in for the injured Franco Morbidelli.

As It Happened

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Off the line, it was the Yamaha’s who got the best start before Bagnaia’s Ducati got up to speed, however, Quartararo managed to hold onto the lead into turn one.

Pole-man Vinales fell down to fifth at the end of the first sector but managed to get past Alex Rins into fourth at the end of the opening lap.

At the end of lap three, Quartararo tried to get back into the race lead at turn 16, but Bagnaia made a swift reply on the exit of turn 18 and blasted back past the Frenchman.

Marc Marquez made the most of the early battles as he breezed through the field from 20th to 10th in the matter of a few laps.

On lap five, a carbon copy of the lead battle ensued at the final chicane as Bagnaia held off the chasing Quartararo.

As the top 10 group started to pull away, Quartararo made a brave lunge on Bagnaia up the inside of the flat out turn 12 with the Frenchman up into first on lap six.

Valentino Rossi crashed out of the race at the fast turn seven as the Italian’s torrid season continued to turn for the worse.

On lap 11, Nakagami made an audacious overtake around the outside of Bagnaia at turn 13, who he’d tailed for a number of laps prior. Unfortunately for the Japanese rider, the Ducati rider made it straight back past which saw him relegated back down to third.

Bagnaia was handed a long-lap penalty for exceeding track limits as Nakagami fell from third to fifth over the course of lap 14.

On lap 15, Bagnaia took his long lap penalty which dropped him to ninth. Joan Mir was the next rider to pass Nakagami tightly at turn five, a corner which became an overtaking hotspot for the Spaniard over the course of the Grand Prix. The Japanese rider went on to lose another position to Miguel Oliviera moments later.

Jack Miller lost the front at turn five, and despite remounting, the Aussie was forced to retire from the race three laps later.

On lap 19, Mir gate-crashed the podium party as he made yet another move at turn five, this time on Johann Zarco, who he enjoyed a battle with in the early stages of the race.

Later that lap, Marc Marquez promoted himself up to seventh past Aleix Espargaro at the long and winding turn 15.

Five laps later, the Aprilia man reclaimed seventh position from his compatriot as he squeezed up the inside of the Repsol Honda man at turn 16.

In the end, it was Fabio Quartararo who was victorious ahead of his teammate Vinales and Mir in third.

Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Zarco, Oliviera, Bagnaia, Marc Marquez, Aleix Espargaro, Nakagami and Pol Espargaro.

In the Championship, Sunday’s victory extended Quartararo’s lead in the standings to 34 points ahead of his fellow Frenchman Zarco, the Yamaha man now has a race-in-hand on the pack behind.

Jack Miller’s retirement demotes him two positions from third to fifth, behind Bagnaia and Joan Mir – the Aussie now 56 points behind Quartararo.

What’s next?

MotoGP jets off for the summer break and are next in action at the Styrian Grand Prix held at the Red Bull Ring on August 8th, part one of the Austrian double-header, where Fabio Quartararo will hope to extend his Championship lead even further as he bids to win his maiden MotoGP title.

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