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# Assen MotoGP practice: Bagnaia on top, fraught Friday for Martin
- URL: https://www.the-race.com/motogp/assen-motogp-practice-bagnaia-fastest-points-leader-martin-fifth/
- Published: 2024-06-28T14:22:49.000Z
- Updated: 2024-06-29T09:38:07.000Z
- Description: Pecco Bagnaia's chances of hacking into Jorge Martin's 18-point MotoGP championship lead look good at the Dutch TT after an extremely strong Assen Friday for the reigning champion and a fraught afternoon for Martin
- Author: Matt Beer
- Tags: MotoGP, #pecco-bagnaia, #ducati

Pecco Bagnaia's chances of hacking into Jorge Martin's 18-point MotoGP championship lead look good at the Dutch TT after an extremely strong Assen Friday for the reigning champion and a fraught afternoon for Martin.

Bagnaia had topped the Friday morning session - remarkably the first time in his MotoGP career that the double champion had led an opening practice - and followed it up with more of the same in the afternoon session that decided the automatic Q2 places, leading with a new track record 1m31.340s.

Martin had a low-key morning then was nearly half a second off Bagnaia's pace in fifth in the afternoon.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/06/GnG_1144498_HiRes.jpg)

And he may yet face a penalty for going slowly on the racing line following a frightening late incident in which Jack Miller's KTM lost a wing having clipped the Pramac Ducati as he came upon it.

The Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro were second and fourth, sandwiching a great run from Gresini Ducati's Alex Marquez.

But Espargaro's session came to a painful end with a violent crash going into the final chicane in which he headbutted the screen at the front of his bike and then had a very heavy landing on his lower back in the gravel. He was taken away from the scene on a stretcher but initial medical checks at the track suggested he escaped with bruising.

> A big one for [@AleixEspargaro](https://twitter.com/AleixEspargaro?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) at the very end of Practice! 😱[#DutchGP](https://twitter.com/hashtag/DutchGP?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com) 🇳🇱 [pic.twitter.com/6F1y1SED1Q](https://t.co/6F1y1SED1Q?ref=the-race.com)
> 
> — MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) [June 28, 2024](https://twitter.com/MotoGP/status/1806690946492297282?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=the-race.com)

Marc Maquez was two tenths down on his brother in sixth, followed by the only KTM in Q2 so far - that of Brad Binder, as Pedro Acosta ended a disappointing opening day in 15th.

Enea Bastianini made it straight to Q2 despite crashing his Ducati in the final minutes, something he'd looked like doing a few times earlier on but catching it on those occasions.

Raul Fernandez's year-old Trackhouse Aprilia and Martin's team-mate Franco Morbidelli complete the initial Q2 pack.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2024/06/GnG_1144544_HiRes.jpg)

Fabio Quartararo only narrowly missed out though as Yamaha's latest engine made its debut and took him to 11th and team-mate Alex Rins to 14th.

They were split by the VR46 Ducatis of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio, whose day was cursed by track-limits offences. One cost him the top spot in first practice and another left him in Q1.

Joan Mir - yet again - was the session's other crasher, as he and Repsol Honda team-mate Luca Marini brought up the tail of the field behind Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori and Tech3 struggler Augusto Fernandez.