MotoGP™: Quartararo wins as Michelin posts more records at Assen

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took his fourth win of the 2021 MotoGPTM campaign at Round 9, the Motul TT Assen. The championship leader finished clear of team-mate Maverick Viñales and the outgoing champ Joan Mir (Team SUZUKI ECSTA). The grip and consistency of the MICHELIN Power Slick range contributed to the establishment of new track-lap, fastest race-lap and race-duration records for the Dutch venue.  

Quartararo got away well from second on the grid to emerge from the first turn in front before relinquishing top spot to Francesco Bagnaia. The Frenchman responded by edging ahead again several times in quick succession but was knocked back by the Ducati Lenovo Team rider each time.

Running on medium and hard MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear, the Yamaha star eventually found a way past for good on the seventh of the afternoon’s 26 laps. He then extended his advantage with a couple of extremely quick times which included the fastest race-lap (1m32.869s) on Lap 8 when he shaved 0.75 seconds off the previous best clocked by Marc Marquez in 2015.

By the race’s midpoint, Quartararo had pulled out a gap of almost three seconds and his bid to claim his fourth win of the season was further facilitated when Bagnaia was handed a ‘long lap’ penalty.

Having qualified on pole position with a new track lap record (1m31.814s), Viñales (soft and hard MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear) spent much of the early part of the race stuck in fourth place but succeeded in easing into second overall on Lap 15, albeit four seconds short of his Yamaha team-mate. He managed to narrow the margin down to 2.7s by the checkered flag, however.

Mir was third over the line, ahead of the best-placed independent team rider Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Team), Bagnaia – who ended up sixth – and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) who produced a superb fightback from 20th at lights-out to seventh at the finish.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) rounded out the day’s top 10 which included all of the bikemakers involved in MotoGPTM.

Following resurfacing work at Assen, Michelin had eight Power Slick specs available for the weekend instead of the usual six. Five were chosen for the grand prix itself and two different front/rear pairings finished on the podium.

In addition to contributing to new track and fastest race-lap records for the venue, Michelin’s rubber helped Quartararo to complete the 26 laps some 19 seconds fastest than the previous shortest-duration record. Meanwhile, no fewer than 13 riders improved on the former race-lap record to provide a further illustration of the versatility of Michelin’s MotoGPTM range.

The result has given Quartararo extra breathing space at the top of the provisional Riders’ standings where he is now 34 and 47 points clear of Zarco and Bagnaia respectively.

Assen also hosted Round 4 of the 2021 FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup which was won by Eric Granado (One Energy Racing).

The teams and riders will now be able to take a short rest before action resumes in Austria with the Michelin® Grand Prix of Styria on August 6-8.