Warm-up, Assen: Just two thousandths of a second! A tight Aprilia one-two

Conditions on Sunday morning in Assen were considerably more pleasant than the heat of the previous day. There had been a heavy thunderstorm overnight. The weather conditions on Sunday morning before the warm-up: 24 degrees in the air and 28 degrees on the track, which was still damp in the morning but had already dried out quite well following the Red Bull Rookies Cup earlier that morning.

Aprilia still going strong

On Friday and Saturday, Aprilia had clearly demonstrated its dominance at the TT Circuit with an impressive top-four sweep in qualifying. Pecco Bagnaia set the fastest warm-up lap for Ducati with a time of 1:33.075. Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez beat that time on their Aprilias. Joan Mir was also keen to get in on the action with his Honda.

Marc Marquez set his first fast lap late in the session. With less than two minutes to go before the chequered flag, he moved up from last place to third – behind his brother Alex, whom MotoGP fans are keeping a close eye on this weekend.

Alex Marquez strong despite injury

The Gresini Ducati rider had suffered a heavy crash on Friday. The diagnosis: grazes and a bruised shoulder. Alex Marquez was nevertheless on the grid for FP2 and the Sprint on Saturday – though he sat out Q2. Marquez explained that riding as much as possible was helping his recovery (from Friday’s crash, but above all from the serious accident in Barcelona). However, he did so without pressure and without the risk of crashing. On Saturday, Marquez had announced that he would decide after the warm-up whether to start the Grand Prix. With the fifth-fastest time and an apparently trouble-free warm-up , Sunday got off to a promising start for Alex Marquez.

Once again, Aprilia topped the timesheets: works rider Marco Bezzecchi clocked a time of 1:31.955. However, his team-mate from the Trackhouse team, Ai Ogura, finished just two thousandths of a second behind him! It could hardly be any closer. Behind them were Bagnaia (3rd) and Pedro Acosta (KTM/4th). Joan Mir was the fastest Honda in 9th place, whilst Fabio Quartararo was the fastest Yamaha in 12th.

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28.08.2026 - 08:55