Dutch MotoGP Qualifying Results | Bagnaia bags back-to-back poles in Assen

Pecco Bagnaia will start the Dutch MotoGP on pole position after a superb record-breaking lap at Assen put him in good stead for a morale boosting result ahead of the summer break.

The Italian put recent troubles behind him with a commanding effort over a single lap on the factory Ducati, replying to Jorge Martin’s own lap record out of the box with an even quicker time of 1m 31.708secs mid-way through the session.

It’s a timely performance for Bagnaia as he comes to the Netherlands with something to prove after a fourth DNF in six races last time out at the Sachsenring last weekend dealt what could be a fatal blow to his title aspirations.

Indeed, though Bagnaia won two of those six races to claw back ground on championship leader Fabio Quartararo, his early off in Germany puts him 91 points adrift of his rival.

Alas for him, Quartararo maintained his solid consistency in qualifying to place his Yamaha second on the grid, the Frenchman heading into Sunday’s race looking for a third win in a row.

Martin completes the front row - his first since Austin - to give himself a good shot at an eye-catching result ahead of Ducati’s crucial decision over whether he or Enea Bastianini, who could only manage 16th, should get the factory seat alongside Bagnaia in 2023.

Rookie Marco Bezzecchi produced another fine Saturday showing to place fourth on the grid aboard the VR46 Ducati, ahead of Quartararo’s nearest title contender Aleix Espargaro, whose final lap was spoiled by Jack Miller - who starts sixth - dropping his Ducati ahead of him at Turn 3.

Johann Zarco gets underway from seventh, ahead of Miguel Oliveira, who enjoyed one of his better qualifying performances of the year to make it through Q1 en route to eighth.

Despite his fractured wrist, Alex Rins put in a dogged performance for ninth on the grid, ahead of Brad Binder - who joined Oliveira in making it through Q1 - and Maverick Vinales, who like his Aprilia team-mate Espargaro had his best lap spoiled by Miller, this time as he toured back to the pits.  Takaaki Nakagami starts 12th.

Outside the Q2 qualifiers, Bastianini’s troubled Dutch MotoGP weekend continued on as he missed the first half of the session due to a technical issue on his primary Gresini Ducati that stopped him at the exit of the pits.

With two big crashes already this weekend, Bastainini could only manage a lap time that would place him 16th on the grid, just behind Fabio di Giannantonio, the rookie Italian out-qualifying his team-mate for a fourth race in succession

It puts the wavering title contender on the back foot coming into a crucial race as he looks for a strong result that could potentially secure him the factory Ducati ride over Jorge Martin, a decision that will be taken by the manufacturer over the imminent summer break.

Just ahead of them will be Luca Marini, who faces a tall order to make it four successive top six results from 13th, and Joan Mir, who bounced back from a slow low-side at Turn 5 to grab 14th.

Andrea Dovizioso starts 17th for one of his better starts of the year, ahead of sole Repsol Honda representative Stefan Bradl in 18th following Pol Espargaro’s withdrawal through injury.

Remy Gardner won the battle of the Tech 3 KTMs in 19th, ahead of the lacklustre Franco Morbidelli, Alex Marquez, Lorenzo Savadori, Raul Fernandez and Darryn Binder.

2022 Dutch MotoGP | Assen | Qualifying Results