MotoGP Dutch TT Race Results | Quartararo dominant in Assen to multiply lead

Fabio Quartararo has made a significant break away at the head of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship standings with a comprehensive fourth win of the season in the Dutch TT at Assen.

Another formidable showing from Quartararo, who again demonstrated untouchable pace and consistency once he was out front, strolled away from the opposition upon assuming the lead on lap six, finishing well clear of Maverick Vinales and Joan Mir.

Concluding a stellar first half of the season for the Frenchman in only his third campaign in MotoGP, Quartararo heads into the summer break clenching a solid 34 point advantage over Johann Zarco, who was again the leading Ducati contender in fourth to keep the tempo up on the chase of his countryman.

An engrossing race, albeit one that looked Quartararo’s to lose on the bike to beat this weekend, he marked his territory from the start with an aggressive swipe across the nose of pole man and team-mate Vinales on the run to the first corner. However, it was Pecco Bagnaia that would shuffle his way to the front of the order by the conclusion of the opening lap.

Nonetheless, Quartararo upped the pressure thereafter and while Bagnaia’s Ducati power would see him rebuff a couple of passes into the final corner, by lap eight the definitive pass for the lead had been made.

From here Bagnaia began to fade, allowing a gap to open up to Quartararo out front that would deny Vinales - once he’d gotten the better of Italian - little opportunity to hunt him down. 

Even so, with Quartararo unflustered out front, Vinales in second marks Yamaha’s first 1-2 of the season, with the latter in particular able to savour a result that looked very much off the cards given the struggles of a week earlier in Germany. 

Bagnaia and Takaaki Nakagami held down podiums positions during the first half of the race, but both slid back as it progressed, allowing Joan Mir to ascend into a strong  third place for his third podium of the season, heading off Zarco, who consolidated his second place in the standings with a measured run to fourth.

Though unable to maintain his streak of podiums, Miguel Oliveira continued to make up ground in the standings with a fifth place finish as the top KTM rider, ahead of Bagnaia, whose lost ground due to a long lap penalty for track limit violations.

Starting 20th after a crash in qualifying, Marc Marquez clawed his way back up the order to seventh, helped by a brilliant opening lap that lifted him to tenth. He’d win out in an entertaining dice with the Espargaro brothers, Aleix leading Pol in eighth and tenth respectively, with Nakagami splitting them in ninth.

Alex Rins recovered to 11th following an early Zarco-nudged off-track excursion, the Spaniard getting back ahead of remaining points’ scorers Brad Binder, Danilo Petrucci, Alex Marquez and Enea Bastianini.

Of the non-finishers, Jack Miller was the highest-profile casualty when he slid off at Turn 5 on lap 15, while Iker Lecuona crashed at the final corner.

2021 Dutch TT MotoGP RACE Results | Assen