ANOTHER PAINFUL MARQUEZ FAA

A second painful fall of the day for Marc Marquez rounded off a twice red-flagged and incredibly crash-strewn second Assen MotoGP practice session.

Marquez had recovered from an initial fall to go fastest in the morning, and then while on a potential session-topping afternoon lap he lost his Ducati's front end going into the fast Ruskenhoek left-hander and slid at high speed across the gravel.

This is what happened at Turn 7! @marcmarquez93 😱#DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/XAAl1uxwko

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 27, 2025

He initially stood up before immediately crouching back down in the gravel trap, seemingly in pain in his groin area, and needing assistance away from the scene - though he was walking unaided, if somewhat gingerly, when he got back to the Ducati pit. From there he headed to the medical centre for a check-up.

Advancing to Q2: Quartararo, A Marquez, Acosta, Bezzecchi, Bagnaia, M Marquez, Di Giannantonio, Vinales, Morbidelli, Zarco

Will contest Q1: Fernandez, Aldeguer, Rins, Oliveira, Bastianini, Miller, Mir, Binder, Savadori, Ogura, Chantra, Espargaro

That was one of nine high-speed crashes during the session, as rider after rider appeared to misjudge the grip available from the front tyre in particular.

Six of the crashes happened in the first seven minutes of the session.

Alex Marquez started the run of falls and was quickly followed by Gresini Ducati team-mate Fermin Aldeguer, LCR Honda's Johann Zarco, VR46 Ducati's Franco Morbidelli, Tech3 KTM rider Enea Bastianini and Honda's stand-in rider Aleix Espargaro.

The Aldeguer, Zarco and Morbidelli shunts happened virtually simultaneously, all at different parts of the track, with Morbidelli's the most destructive as his Ducati tumbled end over end across the grass without him.

None of those caused a red flag, but Ai Ogura and Lorenzo Savadori's later crashes both did.

Ogura had a ferocious highside into the Duikersloot right-hander in which his Trackhouse Aprilia burst into flames as it bounced across the asphalt. Savadori's Stekkenwal shunt ended with his wrecked Aprilia sat in the middle of the circuit. Both riders appeared unhurt.

Between stoppages and yellow flags, Fabio Quartararo popped in with the fastest time at the end of a session in which all five manufacturers got a bike directly into Q2.

Quartararo's 1m31.156s for Yamaha was 0.102s clear of Alex Marquez, with Pedro Acosta jumping to third for KTM late on and Assen specialist Marco Bezzecchi's Aprilia fastest for a spell before ending up fourth.

Marc Marquez held on for sixth despite his fall, just behind Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia.

Fabio Di Giannantonio, Maverick Vinales, Morbidelli and Zarco completed the automatic Q2 pack.

Raul Fernandez was bumped down to 11th in the final seconds, while Alex Rins looked like he might get his Yamaha straight through to Q2 via a massive tow from Bagnaia before being edged down the order.

- Matt Beer

FRANCESCO BAGNAIA HAILS MALAYSIAN MOTOGP POLE AFTER 'INCREDIBLE' JORGE MARTIN BATTLE

“It’s incredible what we did today”

Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, qualifying, 2024 Malaysian MotoGP

MotoGP title rivals Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin spectacularly slugged it out for pole position at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Both smashed the Sepang lap record as they surged almost one second clear of the field.

Martin landed what looked like a knockout blow with a new official lap record on his first run, pitting with a half-second advantage over Bagnaia.

But with the pressure on, practice leader Bagnaia responded magnificently on his final run, beating Martin's record time by 0.216s!

Delight in the factory Ducati pits was matched by shock in the Pramac garage, but Martin rolled up his sleeves and was equal to Bagnaia through the opening sectors…

However, the title leader was forced to lift his GP24 when the front slid away at Turn 14, ending an epic pole contest.

“It’s incredible what we did today because already the lap time of Jorge was incredible,” said Bagnaia, before underlining the psychological importance of defeating Martin in qualifying.

“Being able to drop this lap time was also super important for the mental side because I know how difficult it is when you are doing your maximum and your opponent is faster.

“So it was very important and I’m very proud of my team because we did a very good again. Super happy.”

Martin, who starts this afternoon’s Sprint race 17 points ahead of Bagnaia, admitted: 

“For sure I thought [my first lap] was enough, but Pecco was incredible today.

“It is what it is. I tried my best. I think the first row was the target so I’m happy.

“The race will be tough, both of us have a really good pace so it will be important to understand where to be stronger.”

Martin can wrap up the title one round early if he holds a 38-point lead on Sunday evening.

A maximum of 12 points are available in the Sprint and 25 in the Grand Prix this weekend.

Meanwhile, Alex Marquez was a commendable, if distant, third on the grid.

“I closed my eyes and pushed in every corner at the limit!” he smiled. “I tried my best and I love this place. We made a really good lap, also in FP2 we were not bad for race pace.”

The Gresini rider paid tribute to the ‘magnificent’ performance of the duo ahead as he ruled out repeating last year’s Sprint victory.

“Looking forward to the race but we are not like last year, we don’t have the chance to win because these two are super magnificent," Marquez said.

“When you are fighting for the title you have like another step more [mentally]. So congrats to Pecco and Martin.

“But we are happy to be here after some difficult races.”

Martin’s team-mate Franco Morbidelli, Alex’s team-mate Marc Marquez and Bagnaia’s team-mate Enea Bastianini (who fell) will form row two of the grid.

KTM's Jack Miller was the top non-Ducati rider in seventh followed by the Yamahas of Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins, who are enjoying their most competitive team performance of the season.

Brad Binder (KTM), Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) and Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) completed the Qualifying 2 riders.

Zarco turned heads by leaping to the top of Qualifying 1 on his final lap, pushing Pedro Acosta out of Qualifying 2 in the process.

Meanwhile, Andrea Iannone enjoyed the best session of his MotoGP comeback with 17th on the grid.

"It wasn't an easy qualifying, but I'm happy," Iannone said. "On a physical level, with the heat, the humidity and considering how these bikes are physical in braking, it's complicated but I’m having fun. 

"It's a shame we had so little time, because we have the potential to be competitive, we're only 0.8 from the first GP23. 

"It will be my first time in the Sprint, I will have to understand how to manage myself, I don't know exactly what to expect, especially in the slipstream with all these wings."

- Peter McLaren

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JAPANESE RIDER TAKAHASHI TO REPLACE RINS AT SAN MARINO GRAND PRIX

Takumi Takahashi will replace LCR Honda rider Alex Rins at the San Marino Grand Prix this weekend as the Spaniard continues to recover from an injury, the MotoGP team said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday.