Disappointing Dutch Weekend for Yamaha in Assen
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP and the WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP team endured a difficult Dutch Grand Prix with just Andrea Dovizioso reaching the chequered flag, but narrowly missing out on points in 16th position. Crashes saw Fabio Quartararo, Franco Morbidelli and Darryn Binder unable to finish the race.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP pairing Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli failed to finish at round 11 of the MotoGP World Championship, both crashing out of the Dutch Grand Prix separately at turn five.
After powering through a drenched day one at the TT Circuit Assen, Saturday’s qualifying session set Fabio Quartararo up for a battle at the front in Sunday’s 26-lap encounter, as the Frenchman qualified second on the grid.
Launching from the middle of the front row, the 23-year-old aimed to take the lead, but a mistake at turn one whilst battling with Francesco Bagnaia left him in the clutches of Aleix Espargaró. Ending the opening lap in third, Quartararo pushed on, setting a new fastest lap of the race as he looked to reclaim second position.
But disaster struck with 22 laps to go when the Frenchman collided with Espargaró at turn five, sliding out of podium contention. Rejoining the race unhurt, but in last place, Quartararo pulled into the pits to see if anything could be done and quickly headed back out again in the hope of collecting some championship points, but a second crash on lap 11 ended his race early.
Fortunes weren’t much better on the other side of the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP pit garage, as Franco Morbidelli too suffered from a crash.
The Italian started the race from 20th on the grid and held position on the opening lap. Aiming to make progress, the Italian had to take a long-lap penalty for obstructing another rider in free practice, but didn’t take the penalty until lap five, which was too late meaning he’d have to complete a second long-lap.
Re-joining in 23rd, he was keen to bridge the gap to the riders in front of him. However, as he pushed on, he fell at turn five. Like his team-mate, he was initially able to resume riding, but soon after retired from the race with 18 laps to go.
WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team’s Andrea Dovizioso endured a difficult Grand Prix. Making progress across the weekend, the Italian was hopeful of making up positions from his 17th place grid spot. Ending the opening lap at the back of the field, Dovizioso got his head down and worked his way towards the points. Using his experience as the rain began to fall at the mid-way stage, the Yamaha rider worked his way up to 16th, where he ultimately finished the Grand Prix.
Team-mate Darryn Binder had struggled with the limited dry running across the Dutch TT weekend, but like team-mate Dovizioso, had hoped for a strong race. The South African had worked his way up to 18th before a fast crash at turn ten ended his Grand Prix prematurely.
Today‘s results see Quartararo‘s lead in the championship standings reduced to 21 points, with his 172 points total, while Morbidelli remains in 19th with 25 points. After Round 11, Yamaha remain second with 172 points in the Constructor championship, and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP now are in shared second position with 197 points in the Team championship. WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team riders Darryn Binder and Andrea Dovizioso lie in 21st and 22nd positions respectively.
The MotoGP paddock will enjoy a five week break before returning to action in August for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where Fabio Quartararo will have to serve his long-lap penalty sanction that he was awarded following the incident involving Aleix Espargaró on lap three. The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team put in an appeal, but Race Direction was not swayed.
Andrea Dovizioso – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team, 16th
“I didn’t have a good start, I lost positions in the first three corners, because there were some confusions in turn one where I went out from the track as everybody was inside. This track is difficult at the beginning to overtake because there is a big disorder about the lines and at the start of the race from the start of the season, I can’t properly brake or stop the bike. I’m not able to be aggressive and not able to gain and use the potential of the bike. Almost every race for me, I’m losing 12 seconds in the first five laps just because you are behind and that is bad. In any case I was able to recover and gain some positions and overtake Bradl and Marini at the end. But I wasn’t able to score any points, so it’s just unlucky.”
Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, DNF
“I made a rookie mistake. It was only the third lap and I attacked like it was the last one. It was totally my mistake. My apologies to Aprilia and Aleix for making him go out of the track. It was a race accident. I came into the pits because I felt there was a problem, but the team told me to continue because rain was supposed to come. But we crashed again. I feel pretty lucky I haven’t broken anything. I could save the first moment, but as soon as I moved, I had another one and fell. I feel a bit sore in the shoulder. But it’s my fault, I could have done a better result than crash in the third lap and crash again later. I crashed only twice in the first ten rounds of the season, and today I crashed twice in ten laps. We spoke with the team before the race. The strategy was that if I was in front, I would push. If I was behind, I would try not to make any mistakes. But I did the opposite. Not something I would do on purpose. It was just a stupid mistake.”
Franco Morbidelli – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, DNF
“I lost the front in Turn 5 and crashed. That was unfortunate. The biggest deal is that we need to get the right speed. And to get that with this bike, you have to be very aggressive, and that is not my way of riding. We will take this summer break to regroup and to understand it well. I will try to sort something out in my riding style to get more aggressive to make this bike work for me.”
Darryn Binder – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team, DNF
“Overall, it’s been a difficult weekend for me. Because we lost some dry time on Friday, I always felt like I was one step behind where I needed to be. I was always playing catch up. In the race, I started to make steps forward, I went faster than what I did in Qualifying on the hard rear tyre, so I was slowly, but surely getting better and better and I was trying to keep a good rhythm. Unfortunately, before lap 10, I just tucked the front going into turn nine. I’m really disappointed. That’s not the way I wanted to go into the summer break. Anyway, I’ve got five weeks now to work on myself and come back fitter, stronger and faster.”
Razlan Razali – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team, Founder & Team Principal
“It’s not the best result before the summer break with Darryn having a big crash a couple of laps into the race as he was in a good position. I’m glad that he’s okay. And with Andrea finishing in 16th position, it’s not the best result that we wanted before we go on a five week’s break, but he tried his best and was fighting hard. All we can do is to use this break to reflect and find a way to do better in the remaining nine races for this season.”
Massimo Meregalli – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team, Team Director
“These were results we didn‘t expect to score today. Luckily, neither rider got injured in their crashes. We started the race hoping to be able to put in a good performance. We were, anyway, well prepared for this race, but this is racing. We view the first crash of Fabio as a race incident and feel that Race Direction’s decision to give him a sanction for the next race is not only harsh considering he took nobody down with him and Aleix still scored points, but it’s also not consistent with race incidents we’ve seen in earlier GPs that were left unpunished. We will use this break to digest this GP and come back ready to fight in Silverstone in one month‘s time.”
TT Assen results:
1. Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team
2. Marco Bezzecchi – Mooney VR46 Racing Team +0.444
3. Maverick Viñales – Aprilia Racing +1.209
4. Aleix Espargaró – Aprilia Racing +2.585
5. Brad Binder – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
6. Jack Miller – Ducati Lenovo Team +3.045
7. Jorge Martin – Prima Pramac Racing +4.340
8. Joan Mir – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +8.185
9. Miguel Oliveira – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +8.325
10. Alex Rins – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +8.596
11. Enea Bastianini – Gresini Racing MotoGP +9.783
12. Takaaki Nakagami – LCR Honda IDEMITSU +10.617
13. Johann Zarco – Prima Pramac Racing +14.405
14. Fabio Di Giannantonio – Gresini Racing MotoGP +17.681
15. Alex Marquez – LCR Honda CASTROL +25.866
16. Andrea Dovizioso – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team +29.711
17. Luca Marini – Mooney VR46 Racing Team +30.296
18. Stefan Bradl – Repsol Honda Team +32.225
19. Remy Gardner – Tech3 KTM Factory Racing +34.947
20. Lorenzo Savadori – Aprilia Racing +35.798
NC. Raul Fernandez – Tech3 KTM Factory Racing +8 laps
NC. Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +15 laps
NC. Franco Morbidelli – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +18 laps
NC. Darryn Binder – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team +18 laps
MotoGP 2022 Championship Standings
1. Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 172 points
2. Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing 151 points
3. Johann Zarco – Prima Pramac Racing 114 points
4. Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team 106 points
5. Enea Bastianini – Gresini Racing MotoGP 105 points
6. Brad Binder – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 93 points
7. Jack Miller – Ducati Lenovo Team 91 points
8. Joan Mir – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 77 points
9. Alex Rins- Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 75 points
10. Miguel Oliveira – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 71 points
11. Jorge Martin – Prima Pramac Racing 70 points
12. Maverick Viñales – Aprilia Racing 62 points
13. Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team 60 points
14. Marco Bezzecchi – Mooney VR46 Racing Team 55 points
15. Luca Marini – Mooney VR46 Racing Team 52 points
16. Takaaki Nakagami – LCR Honda IDEMITSU 42 points
17. Pol Espargaro – Repsol Honda Team 40 points
18. Alex Marquez – LCR Honda CASTROL 27 points
19. Franco Morbidelli – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 25 points
20. Fabio Di Giannantonio – Gresini Racing MotoGP 18 points
21. Darryn Binder – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team 10 points
22. Andrea Dovizioso – WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team 10 points
23. Remy Gardner – Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 9 points
24. Raul Fernandez – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing 5 points
25. Stefan Bradl – Repsol Honda Team 0 points
26. Michele Pirro – Aruba.it Racing 0 points
27. Lorenzo Savadori – Aprilia Racing 0 points
