Sunday MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 race recaps from Assen

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round Eight – Motul TT Assen
Assen – Sunday

Francesco Bagnaia’s Motul TT Assen couldn’t have been better. The Ducati Lenovo Team rider did the double from pole, with a Sunday masterclass cutting the Championship deficit to just 10 points as Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) was forced to follow him home and focus on limiting the damage.

Bagnaia is the first rider to win three successive MotoGP Grand Prix races in a single season since he did it in 2022 with four in a row from Assen to Misano, it’s his third win in a row at the TT Circuit Assen, and he equals Casey Stoner’s 23 wins with Ducati to tie the MotoGP Legend as the two most successful riders with the Borgo Panigale factory. All that said, Martin will now look to use his right of reply this weekend in Germany.

Meanwhile, Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) charged up from a tougher qualifying to complete the podium, denying Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing). Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) was also denied after crossing the line in fourth, with a tyre pressure penalty dropping him to P10.

Still, it was a Ducati 1-2-3-4 and seven Ducati riders in the top ten.

Luigi Dall’Igna – Ducati Corse General Manager

“It was an incredible weekend, after another memorable one at Mugello. Pecco put together a weekend without any single mistake as he set it up perfectly on Friday and kept the same level up to today’s chequered flag. I must congratulate him because once again he’s shown the type of champion he is. Enea also had a great race today and I believe he could have battle for at least second place had it not started from the fourth row. To see him overtaking his opponents in such decisive and precise way is surely an excellent sign and we hope he can continue this way at the Sachsenring.”

MotoGP Race Report

As the lights went out, Bagnaia nailed the start to take the holeshot, with Viñales just holding onto second to deny Martin. Still, Martin launched it to near perfection from his P5 after that three-place penalty, and soon enough he did get it done to take over in second. Marc Marquez, meanwhile, was on the march and soon put his own moves on Viñales to slot into third.

That duo stayed glued together as the battle behind was hotting up. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) had shot up past front-row starter Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP), but soon it was Di Giannantonio on the move, and he made it past Acosta at Turn 1, caught the Marquez-Viñales duo and then pounced on the Aprilia at the final chicane. Next up: Marc Marquez.

By 19 to go, the yellow flash of the VR46 machine went past, but with Marquez also seeming to gesture at the Italian and make it a little easier for him too. Expecting to have been in a group fight and set up for it? Wanting a reference to follow? Either way, the two Ducatis stayed close together, with Viñales on their tail and Acosta on his. Lap by lap, however, Bastianini was cutting the deficit to the podium battle.

He made it past the rookie by nine to go, and a lap later the group shuffled again. Diggia was wide, Marc Marquez didn’t seem to want to take advantage, and Viñales shot past both. Bastianini was then right on that trio once again, and by seven to go was past Diggia. A lap later he did a near carbon copy on Marquez to take over in fourth, with a bit of a closer racing kiss for Marc Marquez, who headed wide but recovered it in time to keep Di Giannantonio at bay. At the time, anyway, before the two started duelling, Acosta got involved once more, and it looked like Viñales and Bastianini had disappeared up the road. But not so.

At the final chicane, the ‘Beast’ struck for the podium and got past Viñales with four full laps remaining, and from there the group couldn’t quite stay with him. By the penultimate lap it then looked like a Viñales-Marquez duel for the podium, but there was still drama to come.

On the final lap, Acosta slid out at Turn 7, and then Viñales headed just wide enough to allow Marquez through, leaving it an Aprilia-VR46 drag to the line for fifth instead. But when all is judged and confirmed, Viñales was forced to drop one position due to exceeding track limits at the chicane, promoting Diggia to fourth. Then, a couple of hours after the race, a 16-second tyre pressure penalty for Marquez saw the #93 demoted from fourth to tenth, costing him seven championship points but he remains third in the standings.

Bagnaia’s masterclass puts the cherry on top of a weekend that saw him top every session bar Warm Up, but Martin took a valuable second. Bastianini takes back-to-back podiums to recover from a P10 qualifying, and it’s Diggia classified fourth ahead of Viñales, with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) taking P6 after a quiet but valuable ride.

Alex Marquez takes P7 ahead of a solid result for Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) in eighth, with Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) next up ahead of Marc Marquez, the Spaniard completing the top ten after being demoted from fifth for a tyre pressure infringement.

Unfortunately, one piece of tougher news on the grid was for Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who suffered a big crash at Turn 1 and was declared unfit for a right wrist fracture.

Now, the paddock heads for Germany. It’s ten points in it, a venue we’ve seen Martin deny Bagnaia before… and some of the most successful turf Marc Marquez has ever raced on.

MotoGP will be back in action in less than five days for the German Grand Prix, taking place at the Sachsenring on July 5-7.

MotoGP Assen Race Results

Assen MotoGP Top Speeds Across Weekend

MotoGP Championship Standings

Moto2

In Triumph’s 100th race powering Moto2, Ai Ogura (MT Helmets – MSI) claimed a second victory of 2024 as a tense fight for victory played out between the Japanese star, second place Fermin Aldeguer (Folladore SpeedUp) and Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI) at the Motul TT Assen.

Ogura grabbed the holeshot from his first front row start of the season but by Turn 5, Aldeguer pounced into the race lead. The #54 clicked into his groove immediately and was a second clear of the chasers by Lap 5, as Garcia – having dropped to P5 – then carved his way up to P2.

For the next few laps, the gap stabilised at just over a second with Garcia and Ogura edging clear of Alonso Lopez (Folladore SpeedUp), who in turn had a train of Kalex riders in tow, including Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team), Manuel Gonzalez (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2) and Jake Dixon (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team).

With 11 to go, Ogura passed teammate Garcia for P2 following a small mistake from the latter, with Aldeguer’s lead now up to 1.6s. Then, with nine laps left, Aldeguer was handed a Long Lap penalty for exceeding track limits. Once completed, Aldeguer dropped behind Ogura and Garcia, with the top three now split by 0.8s with six laps to go.

With four to go, a blanket could cover the top trio. It was Ogura vs Garcia vs Aldeguer for victory, but Garcia then made a mistake at the start of Lap 20 of 22 to see him drop 1.5s off the 25-point haul fight. Heading onto the last lap, it was Ogura vs Aldeguer. The Japanese rider unearthed a stellar last lap to pull clear of the Spaniard to win for the second time in three races, with Aldeguer settling for P2 and Garcia crossing the line in a lonely P3.

Dixon led the Kalex charge with a solid P4, with Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) completing the top five as we look forward to next weekend’s German GP.

After Senna Agius’ strong qualifying performance, the Australian rider started the race in eleventh place and finished a strong tenth. In the end, he was relegated to eleventh place on the time-sheets because he exceeded the track limits in the scramble of the final corners. Nonetheless, this was a reason to be happy, as the gap between the top seven group, in which the 19-year-old fought, and the top five was only two and a half seconds, and only around 12 seconds to the very front, similar to Barcelona, where he finished fifth.

Senna’s thrilling duel against Celestino Vietti was rewarded with five championship points. The next points will come in a week’s time at the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, the home race of the Memmingen-based racing team. The Sachsenring will be new terrain for the youngster, but so was Assen, so the signs are good for another successful race weekend.

Senna Agius – P11

“It was a super-positive race for me. I had a good start and was able to keep up with the leaders at the beginning, but then struggled a bit with the guys in front of me. I was able to keep up with them until the grip started to drop down at the halfway stage of the race. On the last lap, it was like in Moto3! I just touched the green zone in the chicane and lost a position. It’s a bit bittersweet not to be in the top ten today, but it was another positive result for us. A big thank you to the team and everyone in my corner. We are learning a lot, and things can only go up from here.”

Moto2 Assen Race Results

Moto2 Assen Top Speeds Across Weekend

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

Until the final time into the final chicane, Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Intact Husqvarna GP) looked set to take home glory at the Motul TT Assen, but Ivan Ortola (MT Helmets – MSI) had other ideas. The Spaniard led the early stages and the Dutchman the latter, but by the final lap it was a duel for Dutch TT honours – and Ortola went round the outside into the chicane to grab the glory by just 0.012.

David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) completed the podium after overhauling Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Championship leader David Alonso (CFMoto Gaviota Aspar Team).

After Ortola and Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) led the way in the initial stages, Veijer brought the group back onto the duo. By nine to go it was a true Moto3 battle, with Veijer moving through to the lead, and the Dutchman then started to get the hammer down himself to make a gap. But as the pack shuffled, Ortola picked his way back into second and was able to claw back the deficit to Veijer, setting the stage for a duel.

As the final lap began, Ortola was right on the rear wheels of the home hero, and the two were in a private battle with a second in hand on the rest. The move came at the final chicane as the Spaniard went round the outside to steal it, with Veijer then trying to get him back on the drag to the line. He almost did as they crossed the line side-by-side, but Ortola took it by just 0.012.

The masterclass is Ortola’s first win of the year, for Veijer its his fourth podium in 2024. For both, it’s points gained in the title fight too. After Alonso came home fifth and fellow frontrunner Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) took P12, Alonso’s lead is now down to 39 points and ahead of Veijer.

Australian riders Joel Kelso and Jacob Roulstone finished 12th and 14th respectively.

Joel Kelso – P12

“A head scratcher. I’m just missing something at the moment, I’ll be plain and simple. I managed to arrive at the front group after a pretty average qualifying, but I was just on the limit to keep up with them. We know where we need to improve, and we will take this information into Germany next week. P12 doesn’t truly reflect the work we are putting in behind the scenes. Thank you everyone for the support, I won’t stop fighting.”

Jacob Roulstone – P14

“It was a challenging weekend for sure, but I am satisfied to end it in points. I felt a day behind because Friday was not great, we struggled to feel good on the bike. Then I had quite high expectations of myself to make it to Q2 yesterday, but we did not and I was quite disappointed. However, we worked a lot with my crew last night, found some good things for today. The start was a bit tricky, but quickly I got my head down into a good pace and gained a few positions. I had contact in T2 with another rider and I lost contact with the group I was in, so I was at the front of the group, not feeling too confident with my pace, so I just focused on trying to stay at the front of that group. The pace was not competitive enough to catch back the other group, so I was just satisfied to come out first of this group at the end! Thanks to my team for their hard work this weekend!”

Moto3 Assen Race Results

Moto3 Assen Top Speeds Across Weekend

Moto3 Championship Standings

2024 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar (Updated)

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