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2021 MotoGP Round Nine Assen

Assen GP Race Report

The weekend in Assen began with Maverick Vinales getting a bitching shovel and heaving some angst at Yamaha. This angst followed on the heels of his rubbish showing at Sachsenring the previous weekend.

Maverick told Spanish television he didn’t “feel respected” after coming last in Germany.

Two things flowed from that declaration.

His new crew-chief, Galbusera, immediately got out his punishing belt and went looking for his whining charge, and rumours of Maverick’s imminent departure from the factory seat at Yamaha began to swirl around the paddock.

His team-mate, Fabulous, who leads the championship, has no such issues. Sure, he may forget to dress himself from time to time, but I’m of the view Quartararo is generally pleased with his 2021 campaign.

Yamaha was also missing its other wunderkind, Morbidelli, who did his knee in training and was having it re-built.

Young American, Garrett Gerloff, who stood in for Rossi last season, was flown in to keep Morbidelli’s vintage Yamaha in the mix.

HRC had brought in new chassis for Marc and Pol to crash – and they didn’t disappoint, with Marc hauling off one of the most vicious high-sides in recent times in FP2. Happily, he was not badly hurt and managed to limp himself onto the bike for Sunday’s race.

Pol’s off was a milder front-end washout, which came hard on the heels of his demand that his bike be set up like Marc’s.

For its part, the Cathedral of Speed had been re-surfaced, there were some spectators, and the predictions of rain did not eventuate.

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It’s entirely likely Galbusera did find Maverick before Practice started, because when it did, Maverick was savagely quick. He likes Assen, and he has won there before, but it was such a turnaround from the previous round’s dismal showing, everyone was struggling to understand the enigma that was Vinales.

I wasn’t. To me, he’s just another journeyman who will never be a champion. His inconsistency and ongoing mental conniptions would indicate Yamaha is well shed of him. So when the announcement finally came that Maverick was cutting ties with Yamaha, possibly to go to Aprilia, I was not surprised.

Nor was I surprised by his denial after the race.

“No, it’s not true,” he said when asked if he was going to Aprilia. “For the moment,” he went on, “We go to the summer break and we’ll see. Of course, it’s an option [leaving Yamaha]. I’m thinking about it since the beginning of the season, because I’m not able to show my full potential. I can’t tell you more.”

I think what this means is that both him and Yamaha are trying to find a way out of the contract that won’t cost tonnes of money all around. And until that happens, there’s no point involving Aprilia.

But Maverick was not the only fast man out there in FP. Fabulous was also very quick, as was Oliveira, with the Ducatis of Bagnaia, Zarco, and Miller showing the odd fast lap as well.

On paper, it was all about Fabulous. He was faster for more laps than Maverick, and he was smiling lots more than Maverick. I felt I should put my money on him. For all I knew, Maverick might decide to race Savadori for last place again.

Marquez, despite the carols of resurrection being sung after his Sachsenring victory, did not look at all comfortable. His massive FP2 high-side helped him into Q1, and he joined the list of riders waiting for Zarco, so they could maybe follow him and make it into Q2.

And that’s pretty much what happened, except Marc crashed in T9, and found himself starting from 20th, just ahead of a seemingly lost Binder in 21st, and young Gerloff in last place. Zarco and Bagnaia were both through to Q2.

I found myself celebrating Rossi’s 12th spot on the grid like a victory. Hell, if he was gonna bang anywhere, it was going to be at Assen. Once again, disappointment crushed my fan-boy hopes. The Doctor DNFd.

Maverick did, however, find himself on pole. Fabulous and Bagnaia finished off the front row. The second row was a resurgent Nakagami, then Zarco and Oliveira, and the third row was Rins, Miller, and Aleix Espargaro. The reigning world champion? As usual, Mir sat in 10th.

Assen’s a wonderful track. And it throws up some crazy races. This was not one of them.

Fabulous managed to hack his way past Vinales, and led into Turn One. Bagnaia and Nakagami also managed to beat Maverick into Turn One – with Peco even giving him a bit of a nudge as he passed him.

Peco then passed Fabulous and was leading as the field strung itself out closely behind them. Marquez, on soft tyres, managed to wheel himself up nine places from his grid position, and Zarco helpfully ran Rins off the track on the opening lap.

It was wonderful to watch Fabulous slaying Bagnaia through the corners and passing him into the chicane, but then Peco would just charge past him down the straight. Zarco happened to be the fastest on the track at that time, and the two front runners were not getting away.

Mir was back in sixth, Miller in eighth, and it looked very much like Fabulous was simply building up his speed before he could make a pass on Bagnaia that would stick. He was much faster in the corners, but Bagnaia had that Ducati stomp in a straight line.

Mir and Zarco swapped fifth and sixth places a few times, but Fabulous was the only one zeroing in on Bagnaia, and then he pulled the trigger, went past the Ducati and just kept going.

Rossi crashed on Turn 7, utterly disassembled his Yamaha to give Petronas something to do over the break, went back to his garage, got changed, went to the airport, and flew home to hang out with his supermodel girlfriend and count his Aramco dollars. His retirement is on everyone’s lips, but the sheikh who owns him has expressed a wish that Rossi ride with his brother next year, so that may well happen.

It was right about here that Vinales, in fourth, started to close in on Taka Nakagami, who was languishing half-a-second behind Bagnaia. Fabulous had a 1.3 second lead on him, and was making it bigger with every corner.

With 17 laps to go, Bagnaia started going slower and Fabulous made that gap two seconds, as both Taka and Vinales closed in on Bagnaia. It was becoming a race for second place.

Nakagami then passed Bagnaia with such venom, I’m amazed his fairings didn’t fly off. Bags then passed the Japanese rider down the straight, but he was now defending and not attacking.

Fabulous’ lead was up to three seconds and Bagnaia looked ever more doomed as the laps ticked past. Mir was struggling to take fifth spot off Zarco, but at least he was trying. As was Taka, who passed Bagnaia again. Then the Italian’s day got worse. He had been trying so hard, he had exceeded track limits more times than Race Direction could tolerate and copped a Long Lap Penalty. His podium hopes were over.

Suddenly, Maverick woke up and smashed past Nakagami, who was then passed by Zarco, and the hapless Idemitsu rider was now in Mir’s clutches. Oliveira was biding his time in seventh.

Miller ate rocks in Turn Five with 12 laps left to run, and Jorge Martin retired from the race with mechanical issues.

Fabulous was now four seconds ahead of Maverick, Zarco, Mir, Oliveira and Taka, while Bagnaia had rejoined the field in eighth, with Aleix and Marquez now looking to pass him as well.

Taka ran wide in Turn One, clearly unsettled by being run off the track by Mir a few corners before that. And with a scant eight laps left, I was starting to yawn, which is when Maverick started to close down the four second lead Fabulous had accrued.

He was now a smidge over three seconds behind Fabulous, and 1.6-seconds ahead of Mir, Zarco, and Oliveira. Lecuona felt the chicane was a good place to start his summer break, and was on a plane home two hours later.

But Maverick’s efforts were for nought. Fabulous was not going to be caught. He managed his lead and his tyres, and the Frenchman crossed the line 2.7-seconds ahead of Maverick. Mir was two seconds behind him for third, followed by Zarco, and Oliveira a second each adrift of the podium. Bagnaia managed to keep Marquez away from his hard-fought sixth place, but I was amazed Marc was even able to mount up following his high-side.

He won’t be the only rider looking forward to five weeks of rest – the longest summer break in MotoGP history. In that time, many things will happen. Many decisions will be made – and they may even be bigger decisions that which centrefold to take on which super-yacht.

The riders may rest, but the managers certainly won’t. And when we reconvene in Austria on 8 August, the season is going to get even hotter and crazier. The championship is still pretty close, and while Fabulous has a grip on it, the summer break is very often a massive re-set for everyone.

I might even put my undies on and do some work while I wait for hostilities to resume.

2021 Assen MotoGP Race Results

2021 MotoGP Standings

2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar
June 23 Update