Entering Assen’s weekend 91 points behind Quartararo after two consecutive DNFs, Bagnaia’s hopes for the title were boosted by an early collapse for Quartararo, which also knocked Aleix Espargaro off the track.
Taking on Ducati’s first victory in Assen since 2008, Bagnaia’s victory without poles marked him 66 points behind Quartararo in the summer break.
Poleman Bagnaia jumped off the field to make a hole in Turn 1 when Quartararo ran wide, allowing Espargaro and Jorge Martin to cross.
Quartararo recovered third from Martin immediately on turn 3 and passed through Espargaro in turn 5.
But Espargaro responded to the fast right-hander of Turn 6 to take a second back from the championship leader, as Bagnaia’s lead stretched to nearly a second in the first round.
Quartararo followed Espargaro for the next three laps before launching his attack on the Aprilia rider in turn 5 of the fifth round.
But the Yamaha rider crashed as he tried to overtake and crashed into the Espargaro, forcing the Spaniard to step on the gravel.
Quartararo rejoined the race in the back of his damaged Yamaha pack and joined the pit lane at the end of the ninth lap before returning to the track.
But his day would soon turn from bad to worse as he suffered a nasty hymn coming out of turn 5 in the 13th lap, marking his first withdrawal from the race after Valencia 2020.
Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team, Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing Crash
Photo: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The Quartararo / Espargaro incident will be investigated after the race, as it allowed Bagnaia to move away with 1.4s from VR46 Ducati rookie Marco Bezzecchi, who chose to release a soft rear tire instead of the hard one Bagnaia chose.
Bagnaia’s lead would fall in less than a second on the following laps and remain fairly stable as Pramac’s Jorge Martin tried unsuccessfully to push Bezzecchi forward in error.
The podium battle took a new turn on lap 17 when light rain began to fall on the back of Assen’s track, causing Martin’s pace to slow as April’s Maverick Vinales reached third through a quick turn 15 with a left-hander at the end of the tour.
Ducati’s Jack Miller – who was penalized for a long lap during the fourth lap to block Vinales in qualifying – and KTM’s Brad Binder, an expert in tough conditions, further lowered Martin to 17th and 18th laps while insisting on last place on the podium. .
The brief rain cleared in the remaining few laps, with Bagnaia clearing nearly two seconds in a single stage to win its third win of the season to stop a fruitless DNF series and offer the title challenge a glimmer of hope. .
Bezzeki made no mistake to win his first podium in MotoGP and the first for the VR46 team, while Vinales registered his first grandstand at Aprilia a year after his last grandstand with Yamaha over the weekend, he decided to leave the Japanese manufacturer for 2022.
Espargaro remained in 15th place after the Quartararo incident, but broke the field to save fourth with a stunning double overtaking in the last corner of Binder and Miller in the final lap.
Aprilia’s recovery work means he is now just 21 points behind Quartararo in the standings.
Binder grabbed a fifth from Miller after a slight contact between the pair in the lead of Espargaro in the last lap, while Martin faded to seventh.
Joan Mir recovered from 14th place in the grid to finish eighth in her Suzuki, surviving before the race with KTM’s Miguel Oliveira while he was lined up in his grid, and another touch with VR46’s Luca Marini off the line.
Oliveira was ninth on the checkered flag, with Alex Rince finishing in the top 10 of the second Suzuki ahead of Gresini’s Enea Bastianini and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami – who had to serve a long lap penalty for exceeding the track limits.
The last points went to Johan Zarco of Pramak, Fabio Di Gianantonio and his future Grezini teammate Alex Marquez (LCR).
Andrea Dovizioso was the only Yamaha to reach the final, but the RNF Racing racer was only 16th, with the Japanese brand suffering a pointless Grand Prix a week after Honda went through the same.
Marini, Honda’s Stefan Bradl, Tech 3 KTM’s Remy Gardner and Aprilia’s wildcard Lorenzo Savadori were the last to finish.
Raul Fernandez (Tech 3) gave up late due to hand pump problems, while Darryn Binder (RNF) and Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli crashed.
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