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MotoGP Dutch GP: Bagnaia dominates for Assen double ahead of Martin

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World champion Francesco Bagnaia swept to his second win of the 2024 MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix weekend after dominating Sunday’s main race ahead of Jorge Martin.

Having eased to victory in the sprint on Saturday, Bagnaia stormed to a third-successive Dutch GP win of his career on Sunday on his factory Ducati having controlled the race from the off.

Starting from pole, Bagnaia grabbed the holeshot off the line and was never headed in the 26-lap race.

Martin recovered early from a three-place grid penalty for irresponsible riding in qualifying, but could go no further than second to see his championship lead shrink to 10 points going to next weekend’s German GP.

Enea Bastianini completed the podium on the second factory team Ducati having come from 10th on the grid, showing great late-race pace to overhaul Marc Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Maverick Vinales in the closing stages. 

At the start, just as he did in the sprint, Bagnaia got the best launch to hold the lead as Vinales on the Aprilia slotted into second ahead of a fast-starting Martin from fifth.

Martin took second from Vinales into Turn 8 on the opening lap, with Marquez following suit on his Gresini Ducati at Turn 5 on the second tour.

Bagnaia had established a lead of 0.8s over Martin as he started lap three, though the Pramac rider would close this to 0.6s two tours later.

The lead would never shrink below this mark, however, as Bagnaia had the pace to keep Martin’s advances in check.

At the start of lap six, Bagnaia was a second clear and would grow this to 3.676s through to the chequered flag to become the first rider since Mick Doohan in 1998 to win three successive grands prix at Assen.

The battle for the final podium spot raged through to the final laps, with Marquez relinquishing third to VR46 Ducati rider Di Giannantonio at Turn 8 on lap eight.

Marquez appeared to point to the gap he wanted Di Giannantonio to come through on him, leading to speculation that a low front tyre pressure was causing concern.

On lap 19, Di Giannantonio checked up slightly at Turn 8 as Marquez was coming up his inside, allowing Aprilia’s Vinales to jump into third ahead of the pair of satellite Ducatis.

But the danger rider in the battle for third was Bastianini, who picked his way up from 10th on the grid to overhaul Vinales at Turn 16 on lap 22.

The factory Ducati rider moved 0.795s clear of the group behind, headed by Marquez – who recovered from an off at Turn 1 on lap 21 after being nudged wide by Bastianini to claim fourth – and Vinales initially.

But Vinales – who ran wide at Turn 15 on the last lap, ceding fourth – was demoted a spot to sixth after exceeding track limits at the last corner defending fifth from Di Giannantonio.

Brad Binder was top KTM in seventh after Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta crashed out of that position on the last lap.

Alex Marquez faded from the front row to eighth on the second Gresini Ducati, while Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez was ninth on his 2023-spec Aprilia ahead of Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli.

Fabio Quartararo was the sole Yamaha at the chequered flag in 12th after team-mate Alex Rins crashed out at Turn 1 on the opening lap.

Johann Zarco was the top Honda in 13th on his LCR-run bike, with Joan Mir crashing out.

VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi also fell out of contention, while Aprilia duo Aleix Espargaro and wildcard Lorenzo Savadori did not take the start due to injury sustained in a crash in Saturday’s sprint.

MotoGP Dutch GP Race Results:

   
1
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5
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 26

-

      25
2 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 26

+3.676

3.676

3.676     20
3 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 26

+7.073

7.073

3.397     16
4 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 26

+7.868

7.868

0.795     13
5 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 26

+8.299

8.299

0.431     11
6 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 26

+8.258

8.258

      10
7 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 26

+16.005

16.005

7.747     9
8 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 26

+21.095

21.095

5.090     8
9 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 26

+22.368

22.368

1.273     7
10 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 26

+23.413

23.413

1.045     6
11 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 26

+24.004

24.004

0.591     5
12 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 26

+24.057

24.057

0.053     4
13 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 26

+42.767

42.767

18.710     3
14 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 26

+42.871

42.871

0.104     2
15 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 26

+44.429

44.429

1.558     1
16 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 26

+46.246

46.246

1.817      
17 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 26

+1.100

1.100

       
dnf Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 25

1 lap

    Accident  
dnf Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 6

20 laps

    Accident  
dnf Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 5

21 laps

    Retirement  
dns Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 0

26 laps

       

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