Assen MotoGP: Vinales holds off Márquez for first win of 2019

Maverick Vinales won the 2019 Dutch TT, bringing an end to Yamaha’s win drought in MotoGP. Heading into the race, Vinales was 11th in the championship standings with 40 points, but his race win sees him climb up to 7th on the points table. Meanwhile, Marc Márquez finished the race behind Vinales in 2nd place, further extending his lead to 44 points from Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.

Fabio Quartararo, who’s been the top rookie of the season, started the race from pole position for the second time this season; but failed to convert it into a win, yet again. He was passed by the factory Suzukis of Alex Rins and Joan Mir off the line. However, Suzuki’s hope for victory suffered a blow when Alex Rins crashed out of the lead on lap 3. Shortly after, Mir ran wide, handing the lead back to Quartararo.

The Frenchman battled an unruly front end and managed to hold the lead, fending off Márquez for most of the race. Following right behind, Vinales was desperate to make a move on the championship leader and finally found the opportunity after Márquez made a mistake and ran wide. Still recovering from an arm-pump surgery, Quartararo was soon passed by Vinales and Márquez, and the front three remained unchanged until the chequered flag.

4th place was hotly contested between Ducati duo Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci, with the former pipping his teammate to the chequered flag. Mir, who was also in contention for the spot, lost pace in the last few laps, eventually finishing 8th. Franco Morbidelli finished 5th, followed by Petrucci and Cal Crutchlow. Jack Miller slotted into 9th place, with Andrea Iannone following him to claim his first top 10 finish of the season.

Valentino Rossi and Takaaki Nakagami were involved in a high-speed crash and KTM's Johann Zarco retired, making it a total of four DNFs in the race.

Result:

 

POS	RIDER	TEAM	BIKE	LAPS	GAP
1	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	Yamaha	26	40m55.415s
2	Marc Marquez	Honda	Honda	26	4.854s
3	Fabio Quartararo	Petronas Yamaha	Yamaha	26	9.738s
4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	Ducati	26	14.147s
5	Franco Morbidelli	Petronas Yamaha	Yamaha	26	14.467s
6	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	Ducati	26	14.794s
7	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	Honda	26	18.361s
8	Joan Mir	Suzuki	Suzuki	26	24.268s
9	Jack Miller	Pramac Ducati	Ducati	26	26.496s
10	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	Aprilia	26	26.997s
11	Pol Espargaro	KTM	KTM	26	28.732s
12	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	Aprilia	26	34.095s
13	Miguel Oliveira	Tech3 KTM	KTM	26	34.181s
14	Francesco Bagnaia	Pramac Ducati	Ducati	26	34.249s
15	Hafizh Syahrin	Tech3 KTM	KTM	26	34.494s
16	Tito Rabat	Avintia Ducati	Ducati	26	48.357s
17	Karel Abraham	Avintia Ducati	Ducati	25	1 lap
-	Johann Zarco	KTM	KTM	16	Retirement
-	Takaaki Nakagami	LCR Honda	Honda	4	Retirement
-	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	Yamaha	4	Retirement
-	Alex Rins	Suzuki	Suzuki	2	Retirement

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