The Italian is back in World Championship contention as Quartararo crashes twice at Assen
The Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia has shot back into the MotoGP™ title picture after taking victory in a chaotic Motul TT Assen. World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) clashed with his nearest rival on the points table, Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) on Lap 5 at the TT Circuit Assen, then crashed again later in the race. It left Pecco to take a much-needed victory, with fellow Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) claiming a career-best second place and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) clinching third.
From as low as 15th, Espargaro got back to fourth by the chequered flag, a charge he completed with an incredible double-move on Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Heading into the summer break, Quartararo’s Championship lead over the Aprilia pilot has been cut to 21 points, with Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) third at 58 points off the pace, and Bagnaia back up to fourth at just eight points further back.
Bagnaia gets the jump as Espargaro shakes off a first challenge from Quartararo
Bagnaia launched well and led the field into the first corner, while Quartararo briefly dropped back to fourth when he ran wide as he tried to go with the pole-sitter into the first corner. He quickly re-passed Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) and also went down the inside of Espargaro at De Strubben, but could not keep the RS-GP behind him when they ran up the back straight.
It was Bagnaia with a margin of 0.7 seconds at the end of the standing lap, by which time Bezzecchi had passed Miller for fifth. The rookie was into fourth position when he overtook Martin at the start of Lap 3, while Miller dropped from sixth to 10th on Lap 4 when he served a Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding in Q2.
A flashpoint in the title fight
On Lap 5, it was high drama at Turn 5 when the top two in the World Championship came together. Quartararo looked to make a move on Espargaro but dropped his Yamaha and slid into the Aprilia. The Frenchman was last by the time he had remounted and while Espargaro did well to stay upright, he still plummeted to 15th given he had been forced into the gravel in an incident which…