Hat-trick hero: Bagnaia retains Assen crown as Martin claims P2

Taking a third consecutive victory at Assen, Bagnaia adds his name to the history books after an unstoppable weekend.

After a dominant performance on Saturday, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) repeated his success on Sunday – ending a perfect weekend by taking his 23^rd victory with Ducati. The #1 has won for the third consecutive year at the Motul TT Assen as he continues to close Jorge Martin’s (Prima Pramac Racing) lead in the Championship, with the #89’s lead down to just 10 points ahead of Germany. Martin charged hard and kept Bagnaia honest but could only manage second-best, bringing home a further 20 points on Sunday.

The final spot on the podium went the way of Enea Bastianini, who completed a brilliant weekend for the Ducati Lenovo Team. Bastianini had a spectacular recovery ride to charge from P10 on the grid and carve through the field.

The lights went out and it was an identical launch from Bagnaia, who shot into the lead on the run down to Turn 1. Martin also had an excellent start, placing himself into P3 on the run down to Turn 1 before passing Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) later in the lap.

Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) would soon be the next rider to carve through the pack – finding a gap in Viñales’ armour to take P3. The front three would stay settled for the opening stage of the Grand Prix with the fastest lap changing hands multiple times.

Further back, the battle for the final spot inside the top five was on, with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) going head-to-head. Di Giannantonio soon overtook escaped Acosta’s grasp before catching and overtaking Viñales for fourth.

Di Giannantonio soon overtook Marc Marquez for third, with tension building in the battle for the podium. At the back of the group, Acosta was soon caught by Bastianini, with the #31 beginning to have moments with the soft rear tyre. The Beast found his way through on Lap 18, completing a textbook move at Turn 5.

Meanwhile, at the front, the gap began to increase and was now almost two seconds, with less than 10 laps remaining.

However, the podium battle was still on with Viñales now in third position – passing both Marc Marquez and Bastianini with Di Giannantonio down to sixth. Bastianini soon made the move on the #93, with Marc Marquez running wide and briefly dropping outside the top five. The Beast then set a sensational pace to catch and pass Viñales for P3 at the end of Lap 22.

On the final lap, Bagnaia extended his gap to three seconds, storming to victory again at Assen. Nobody had an answer for the #1 with Martin crossing the take second position and Bastianini joining them on the podium to round off a brilliant day for Ducati. Meanwhile, there would be late drama for Acosta with a crash at Turn 7 on the last lap.

Fourth place went the way of Marc Marquez, who took advantage of a mistake from Viñales on the final lap, which allowed the #93 to pass. However, a post-race tyre pressure penalty dropped Marquez from P4 to P10 in the results.

This means Di Giannantonio finished P5 after Viñales ran onto the green at the final chicane and was demoted one position at the chequered flag – dropping Viñales to P5. P6 went the way of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who finished as the top KTM and the top rider with a soft tyre. Meanwhile, Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) took P7 ahead of Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) on the second-placed Aprilia.

It would be a close fight for the final spots inside the top 10, with Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) claiming P9, and Marquez dropping to P10.

Riders will not have long to wait for the Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix of Germany, where we await to see if Bagnaia can continue his success. Join us then where the world’s most exciting sport returns in just one week.

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