The Ducati Lenovo Team secure the direct seed to Q2 at Assen: Francesco Bagnaia fifth quickest in Practice ahead of Marc Márquez in sixth

The Ducati Lenovo Team completed the opening day of action for the tenth Grand Prix of the season at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands. Francesco Bagnaia finished Practice in fifth position, with Marc Márquez only 0.062s adrift of his teammate in sixth.

Second quickest in FP1, Bagnaia — after having a lap time deleted due to yellow flags — made the most of his final attempt to finish fifth. Márquez, tenth fastest in the morning despite a crash, worked his way back into the top three with 20 minutes remaining in the afternoon session. Fourth when the red flags were deployed following the crash involving his brother Alex, Marc opted to sit out the remaining three minutes of Practice and eventually finished sixth.

The Ducati Lenovo Team will resume proceedings tomorrow at 10:10 local time (GMT +2) for Free Practice 2, which will be followed by Q2 (11:15) and by the tenth Sprint of the season, contested over a 13-lap distance from 15:00.

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 5th
“It was a bit of a roller-coaster session. I was expecting a bit more in the first outing with the soft tyre, but a modification to the set-up didn't work as we'd hoped, so we reverted to the previous settings while also opting for the medium rear tyre. In the third run, with the used medium tyre, the feeling was better. I wasn't feeling too confident with the rear-end in the first time attack, while I encountered yellow flags on the following one. After the red flag, I went back out on a tyre that already had four laps on it, and I thought I wasn't going to make it through to Q2. I pushed as hard as I could, though, and managed to put together a good lap. The first goal for tomorrow is to qualify on the front row.”

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 6th
“I'm happy and I feel good. The goal was to finish Practice in the top ten and we managed to do so, despite the fact that this has never been an easy track for me, even when I was fully fit. We know that our main rivals are very competitive at this circuit, so the goal is to lose as few points as possible. We need to keep working to bridge the gap, and then we'll see how high we can aim this weekend.”