Calvary does not stop for Marc Márquez. After retiring in the last German GP without contesting the Sunday race, last week, after suffering his fifth crash at Sachsenring, the Catalan rider returned today in Assen with a change of heart (“trying things for Honda”), but with the same tendency: to go to the ground. The Repsol Honda rider crashed for the 13th time this year (in his fifth Grand Prix) and was left out of the top 10 in Q2.
Marc Márquez’s new setback came at the end of the afternoon free practice session. In the most innocent way. He was going into turn 3, a long right-hand collapse, and lost grip on the front wheel, to end up sliding on the asphalt, without physical damage.
At that moment, with 3 minutes remaining on the clock to the end of the session, the 93 was the 16th driver in the table, with almost no chance of qualifying among the 10 fastest. In fact, in the morning of the first practice, Marc was 21st, 1.865 seconds behind Marco Bezzecchi, the fastest in the two sessions.
Marco Bezzecchi, third in the MotoGP World Championship, gave a coup of authority by dominating the two free practice sessions. In the overall of the two tests, the Italian led Jorge Martín, the second in the championship, by one tenth. Third was Jack Miller and fourth, the World Championship leader, Pecco Bagnaia, who had a difficult morning (12th, 1.2s behind Bezzecchi).
The best Spaniard was Maverick Viñales with the Aprilia, fifth, 2 and a half tenths behind Bezzecchi. Aleix Espargaró was seventh. The top 10 (already classified for Q2) closed Àlex Márquez.
