Bagnaia secures third consecutive Dutch MotoGP win cutting Martin’s lead

Francesco Bagnaia secured his third consecutive Dutch MotoGP closing the gap between himself and championship leader Jorge Martin.

Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia claimed his third consecutive Dutch MotoGP on Sunday ahead of championship leader Jorge Martin to narrow the gap to 10 points in his quest for a third straight world title.

The Italian, who won the 14-lap sprint race on Saturday, led from start to finish at the circuit in Assen and finished 3.676 seconds ahead of Martin – with Bagnaia’s team-mate Enea Bastianini in third.

Bagnaia had a comfortable start and took the lead in the first corner, with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales following and Martin gaining two places following his three-place demotion. Meanwhile, Yamaha’s Alex Rins suffered a horrible highside in the opening corner to put himself out just as the race began.

Martin pulled off an aggressive move on Vinales midway through the opening lap, and then Gresini’s Marc Marquez made the plunge the following lap too.

Rookie sensation Pedro Acosta elevated his GasGas from tenth on the grid to fifth within the opening two laps as he utilised the mistakes of the riders in front of him. Bagnaia raced away into the distance to formulate a second gap to Martin after three laps, with Marquez a further second back in third.

Luca Marini’s torrid weekend continued with him running off to the gravel trap in Turn 4 and as a result retired, meaning he is still yet to win his first point in Repsol Honda colours.

Marco Bezzecchi fell off the side of his bike but managed to get it going again, but any chance of a strong point finish has gone out the window. On Lap 7, the team decided to retire the bike.

His VR46 Ducati team-mate Di Giannantonio fell a few places at the start of proceedings following a strong qualifying but dispatched both Acosta and Alex Marquez on Lap 4 and 5 to put himself back within podium contention.

The elder Marquez’s attempts to catch up to the GP24 Ducati duo saw him receive a track limits warning, as Di Giannantonio slotted his bike past Vinales for fourth. Repsol Honda’s torrid weekend continued further as both riders retired inside the opening seven laps, with Joan Mir unable to finish again.

Di Giannantonio conveyed his strong pace, matching the GP24 riders at the front, as he overtook Marquez to put himself on the podium. 2.6s up the road Martin was unable to bridge the second gap between himself and Bagnaia, but was lapping at a similar pace as the premier-class race reaches its halfway stage.

The gap stretched further between second and third place to nearly four seconds with Di Giannantonio fending off Marquez from an overtake. Like in Saturday’s Sprint, factory Ducati’s Bastianini found a sudden burst of pace and was closing down the rookie Acosta lap by lap in his bid to match his fourth-placed finish from yesterday.

The Italian lunged his way through the rookie with nine laps left. Drama ensued when he had a moment in Turn 8 on Lap 19 which put Vinales and Marquez ahead, but Marquez sat back after tailing behind the Italian.

Vinales put himself up to third, and Bastianini dived through on Marquez into Turn 1 on Lap 21 to take fourth. Di Giannatonio ran wide off the line in the quick second sector, which saw Acosta propel his slightly tyre-worn GasGas to sixth. It proved to be short-lived; as both riders swapped places later that same lap.

Bastianini went one better from Saturday’s Sprint to put himself into third following a move on Vinales into Turn 17. Acosta crashed out of proceedings sitting in seventh, before Marquez caught Vinales napping to seal fourth on the final lap.

Bagnaia’s maximum point weekend means the championship lead is reduced to 10 points to Martin heading into Sachsenring. Martin’s damage limitation weekend resulted in another second place, ahead of Bastainini to round off a 1-2-3 GP24 Ducati podium.

Marquez’s crash from Saturday’s Sprint was made up for a fourth place in the main race, with Vinales settling for fifth on the road ahead of Di Gianntonio before both riders swapping places post-race due to Vinales exceeding track limits.

Brad Binder endured a quiet race but finished as lead KTM following Acosta’s crash, with Gresini’s Alex Marquez and Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez finishing eighth and ninth respectively.

Franco Morbidelli rounded off the top ten as Jack Miller finished 11th in a photo finish with Fabio Quartararo, as the Australian rider was only 0.053s ahead of the 2021 champion. Johann Zarco finished eighteen seconds adrift as the lead Honda rider, with GasGas KTM rider Augusto Fernandez earning himself two points on the board.

Trackhouse Racing’s Miguel Oliveria brought his bike in the final point scoring position, with LCR’s Taakaki Nakgami and Luca Marini finishing as the final two classified riders for Honda.

2024 Dutch MotoGP, Assen, Race Results