MotoGP Assen: First career pole for Zarco, sensational Petrucci 3rd followed by Rossi

Dutch GP MotoGP Qualifying – The pole position of the Dutch Grand Prix in the MotoGP class (session held on rain tyres) went to the rookie Johann Zarco, who in his eighth race in the Top Class made his first start from the "pole".

The Team Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider stopped the clock at a time of 1:46.141, a time that allowed him to beat reigning champion Marc Marquez by just 0.065s.

Danilo Petrucci will also start from the front row, who had also tasted pole, but in the end had to surrender to the Frenchman and the Spaniard. However, the rider from Terni of Team Pramac achieved a very important front row from a race perspective.

Valentino Rossi will open the second row, 0.564s behind the pole. The Yamaha champion demonstrated excellent feeling even in the wet and should be among the protagonists in tomorrow's race. Scott Redding also qualified excellently, fifth despite a crash. The Pramac Racing rider (which puts two riders in the first two rows) is ahead of rookie Jonas Folger, Zarco's team-mate.

Third row for the Ducati of Alvaro Bautista, for the Honda of Cal Crutchlow and for the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso, who crashed in the "highlight" moment of the tests, a crash which did not allow him to fight for pole, above all because the feeling with the second bike was not the same as the one he had crashed with.

The one who pays the heavy price for the weather is Maverick Vinales, yesterday the fastest in the dry and only eleventh at 2.125 from the top. Keeping him company were Sam Lowes (tenth) and Dani Pedrosa (twelfth). For the world championship leader it will be an uphill race.

Chapter Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo deserves a separate mention (unfortunately for him and for the negative Ducati), who after the good comeback in Barcelona, ​​where he had finished fourth, only achieved the twenty-first time. A little bit for a five-time world champion, who money aside (and Ducati covered him in gold just to get it), he has to demonstrate that he is capable of riding a bike that has won the last two Grands Prix with the team -mate Andrea Dovizioso and who today hit the front row with Danilo Petrucci. It's true that the rain and Assen bring back bad memories, such as the broken collarbone in 2013, but this cannot be enough to justify this performance. Obviously we would be happy to be proven wrong, nothing against Lorenzo, but a rider of his caliber cannot afford certain performances.