MotoGP Assen, Aprilia dominant in Qualifying: Martin on pole, Ducati must chase

Aprilia quartet in Q2 at the TT Circuit, with the fastest of all being the Martinator: among the Aprilias the best is Bagnaia, while Marquez is on the third row.

Qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix rewards Jorge Martin, author of pole position in 1'30"812. Fabulous Aprilia at Assen’s TT Circuit, with four RS-GP26s in the top four positions. Lining up alongside the Martinator will be Ai Ogura and Marco Bezzecchi, while the second row will be headed by Raul Fernandez. Next to the Spaniard are the Ducatis of Pecco Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio.

A miracle from Fabio Quartararo, who managed to take his Yamaha M1 from Q1 into Q2. As has happened on other occasions, the 2021 MotoGP world champion managed to overcome the major limitations of the Iwata machine. The second Q2 spot was taken by Joan Mir with the factory HRC team’s Honda RC213V: just 44 thousandths behind the Frenchman.

In his final time attack, Franco Morbidelli was ahead in the first three sectors, only to lose it all in the fourth and finish third. It should be remembered that, due to a penalty handed down after Pre-Qualifying (he impeded Bastianini), he will be dropped 3 places on Sunday’s starting grid: he will start sixteenth.

Noteworthy was Diogo Moreira’s crash with less than 2 minutes to go: major damage to his Honda. There will be work to do in the LCR garage. A negative note also for Toprak Razgatlioglu’s performance, as he will start from the last slot on the grid this weekend at Assen. He did worse than Yamaha tester Augusto Fernandez, as well as Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda).

Marc Marquez went no further than seventh. His Qualifying was a bit troubled, with his first two Q2 laps deleted due to track limits. He then limited the damage and will launch from the third row, where he’ll be joined by Pedro Acosta’s KTM and a fantastic Quartararo on the Yamaha.

KTM really is a case study: both in FP2 and in Qualifying there were technical issues that hampered Acosta. Even in Q2 it all happened again at Turn 12, where the two-time world champion ran onto the grass and then pushed his bike back to the garage after his RC16 had shut off. Reliability problems that need to be thoroughly analyzed, as they are practically becoming a constant.

It should be noted that Alex Marquez did not take part in Q2, still feeling the effects of the injury sustained near the end of Friday’s Pre-Qualifying. The rider, in agreement with BK8 Gresini, rested to avoid exertion and further risk, with the goal of racing the Sprint at 3 pm. His teammate Fermin Aldeguer waved the white flag and withdrew from the 2026 Dutch GP.