Roadracing World – July 2019

By Neil Morrison

B

efore the 2019 MotoGP season started,

Maverick Viñales looked poised to chal-

lenge reigning World Champion Marc

Marquez. But machine issues, careless mis-

takes, sickness, and sheer bad luck left him

dashing his championship hopes for the year.

Assen was a welcome return of the

Viñales we have only fleetingly seen since early

2017, when he briefly took the MotoGP world

by storm. Despite a number of early mistakes

on his Monster Energy Yamaha, no one could

keep up with him as the race wore down. May-

be, just maybe, Marquez may now have some-

one else to worry about!

MotoGP Practice & Qualifying

The 20-year-old rookie Fabio Quartararo

had struggled with arm pump on his Petro-

nas SRT Yamaha around Mugello’s high-speed

chicanes, and after consulting with team boss

Wilco Zeelenberg, decided on surgery right

away. Assen had led to similar issues with

Quartararo's right forearm in 2018, just when

he was finding his feet in Moto2.

By Saturday afternoon at Assen it was

clear why Quartararo had made that decision

prior to the 71st edition of the Dutch Grand

Prix. He was first or second in each of the four

practice sessions. A second-straight pole al-

most felt like a formality.

Bikes from the six Moto GP manufactur-

ers fall into two camps: Those that turn sweet-

ly, and those that don’t. Fourth and fifth-gear

switchbacks at Ruskenhoek and Hoge Heide at

over 130 mph require both stability and agility

that not all bikes possess.

It was clear the Yamahas ridden by Quar-

tararo and Viñales were tailored to Assen’s

awe-inspiring final sector. Jack Miller could

only watch enviously from his Pramac Ducati.

“They are able to sit in the center of the seat

and just turn the handlebars and the thing

changes direction for them,” Miller said. Alex

Rins' ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-RR was close, and

that trio was joined by Repsol Honda's Mar-

quez, even though no other Honda rider was

close. Marquez’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo

crashed painfully at Turn Seven in the first

practice session, sustaining two fractured ver-

tebrae that likely will sideline him for months.

In qualifying, Quartararo was close to un-

touchable. Marquez, Rins and Viñales all had

brief spells in the lead, but the Frenchman’s

final 1:32.017 was 0.6-second under Valentino

Rossi’s four-year-old lap record. “A great lap,”

Quartararo beamed. “We struggled a bit at the

start because this is such a physical track. The

last two laps in qualifying were really fast, so

I’m really happy about that.”

FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (^) ASSEN, NETHERLANDS
Motul TT Assen
Maverick’s Back!
(Above) Alex Rins (42) starts lap two of the MotoGP race at Assen in the lead, chased by Joan
Mir (36), Fabio Quartararo (20), Maverick Viñales (12), Marc Marquez (93), Andrea Dovizioso (93),
Danilo Petrucci (9), Takaaki Nakagama (30), Franco Morbidelli (21), Cal Crutchlow (35), Jack Miller
(43), Pol Espargaró (44) and the rest of the field. (Below, Right) Viñales passed Quartararo and ran
away to win, ahead of second-place Marquez and Quartararo. Photos by Milagro/DPPI Media.
46—Roadracing World, August 2019