The Motul TT Assen featured crashes, injuries and penalties, but at the end of the day, Ducati maintained its dominant form, with reigning World Champion Francseco Bagnaia topping every practice session, taking pole and leading the Sprint race from start to finish. So far this season, the Bologna manufacturer has won six of the eight Sprint races, as well as six of the seven Grand Prix races. Next year, Ducati will lose two of the bikes it currently fields, as Prima Pramac Racing will become a Yamaha factory team. Yamaha’s plan is to add two more factory bikes to the pair it currently fields to help gather data, test parts and develop the YZR-M1 back to race-winning form. But both Honda and KTM have run four-bike operations in MotoGP for several years, and upstart Pedro Acosta is perhaps the only real bright spot in the Austrian manufacturer’s season so far, while Honda’s RC213V remains nailed to the bottom of the timesheets.
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales has been the biggest threat to Ducati this season, and the Spaniard put his RS-GP on the front row and finished on the podium during the Sprint.
Francesco Bagnaia crashed out of three straight Sprint races at the beginning of the season and finished on the podium only once in the first six, but has rebounded and taken two consecutive Sprint races. Title contender Jorge Martin received a three-place grid drop for Sunday’s race for riding slowly on the racing line during practice.
Marc Marquez’ first weekend after signing as a factory Ducati rider for 2025 started well, but Saturday was a disaster. An ill-timed lunge during qualifying beneath Aleix Espargaro saw him on the ground and relegated to seventh on the grid, while a mistake in the Sprint resulted in another crash and zero points on Saturday.
