ASSEN, Netherlands (AFP) – Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia will start Sunday’s Dutch MotoGP in pole position after the Italian topped qualifying in Assen ahead of reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo.
The Frenchman, who leads the standings by 34 points after 10 of 20 races this season, sets off second on his Yamaha with Spain’s Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) completing the front row.
It is the fourth time in six races Bagnaia has claimed pole, but he has failed to finish in three of his past four outings.
Bagnaia has won his last two completed races -- in Spain and Italy -- but crashed out of last week’s German MotoGP to leave his world title hopes hanging by a thread.
Quartararo was quickest in Saturday’s final practice session, but Bagnaia pulled back in front in qualifying as he set another new lap record of 1min 31.504.
Bagnaia, who finished runner-up to Quartararo in 2021, is sixth overall this year and trails his rival by 91 points.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and France’s Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac), second and third in the championship respectively, will set off in fifth and seventh place on Sunday.