Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez bagged his 75th Grand Prix pole position at Assen this lunchtime by 0.045s from Britain’s Cal Crutchlow with Valentino Rossi bouncing back from a fast free practice four crash to take the final front-row spot.
In what was a frantic final two laps, Jorge Lorenzo had shot into top spot with a 1’33.167 but the following Andrea Iannone snatched it away with a 1’33.120 and the pair must have thought it was enough but neither of them stayed in the top eight such was the pace in the Dutch sunshine.
Marquez was the first man out for run two on the soft tyres - even though Alex Rins had set a blistering 1'33.499 on a hard rear after he came through Q1 - but abandoned his first lap as he had a whole train of riders behind him.
After finding a bit of space, he smashed his way to the top with a 1'32.791 but wasn't quite able to beat Rossi's pole record of 1'32.627 set in 2015. Crutchlow had waited for space and put himself at the back of the rider train but managed to secure second with a lap just 0.041s slower than his HRC team-leader.
Rossi was outside the top ten as they came out for run two. He was right in the middle of the traffic but pulled out a 1'32.850 with Andrea Dovizoso in fourth. The Ducati man went against his run of form this weekend but had set a good rhythm in FP4.
Rins stuck in a 1'32.933 to deny Maverick Vinales and the Yamaha man will start from the outside of row three. The Yamaha man's practice start at the end of FP4 wasn't great and he will need to stop the M1 bogging if he is to challenge tomorrow.
Aleix Espargaro will start from the head of row three and has Johann Zarco - who came from Q1 - and Iannone for company. Lorenzo won't know what to make of qualifying as his 1'33.120 - easily his best lap of the weekend - was only enough for tenth, ahead of Danilo Petrucci and Alvaro Bautista.
Yaka Nakagami was right in the Q1 mix and missed out on a Q2 spot by the narrowest of margins. He is joined on row five by Tito Rabat and Hafizh Syahrin. Jack Miller, Scott Redding and a struggling Dani Pedrosa complete the top 18.
