MotoGP Assen: Marco Bezzecchi keeps hold of top spot in Practice 2 as Marc Marquez crashes again

After struggling with the front of his Ducati in Practice 1, world champion Francesco Bagnaia looked much more at home to begin P2.

As was the case five days ago, Bagnaia was trailing Jorge Martin before Brad Binder and Fabio Quartararo split the two Ducati riders.

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Martin, who was the first rider to break into the 1m 33s barrier in P2, was then overhauled by Quartararo who, unlike teammate Franco Morbidelli, was not using Yamaha’s Ducati-like winglets on the rear of his M1.

After suffering a crash in Practice 1, Johann Zarco nearly came unstuck again during the opening stages after running through the gravel at turn three.

Continuing to set fast lap times at the top of the leaderboard, Quartararo shaved another five tenths off his best time in order to lead by -0.114s from Alex Marquez.

Fastest in P1, Bezzecchi was next to mount a challenge to Quartararo after getting within a tenth of the 2021 world champion. 

With just over a third of the session complete, Martin suffered a bizarre moment as his airbag went off without any warning on the approach to turn six.

Martin did not suffer a near crash which made the incident even more strange. 

Augusto Fernandez became the first rider to crash in Practice 2 after going down at turn one. Despite attempting to get his bike restarted with the help of marshals, Fernandez was unable to do so. 

Pushing the limits of his Ducati, Alex Marquez came close to joining Fernandez in going down after suffering a vicious snap from the rear of his bike. Luckily for Marquez he managed to save what could have been a very nasty crash. 

Repeating Marquez’s near crash, Marini suffered a similar incident at turn 11 as he too managed to avoid a big highside. 

Keen to move up the order, Aleix Espargaro was one of the first riders to set a time attack as he went fourth overall. 

Brad Binder was one of the next riders to significantly improve as he moved up to sixth, before Vinales, who remained second, managed to reduce Bezzecchi’s advantage. 

Like his brother, Marc Marquez was next to suffer a big moment at turn 11 as he momentarily lost the rear of his Honda machine. 

After Quartararo came close to matching Bezzecchi, Bagnaia was next to challenge the Mooney VR46 rider as he went second fastest.

Honda’s already difficult day turned into disaster with three minutes remaining as Marquez crashed at turn three.