Jorge Martin dashed Bo Bendsneyder’s hopes of a maiden Moto3 pole position on home soil with another late burst in qualifying at Assen. The Spaniard has earned a reputation for his blistering pace towards the end of qualifying sessions and the Gresini rider delivered again, claiming his fifth consecutive pole and his sixth in eight races this year.
Pleasant conditions throughout Friday practice had given way to heavy rain on Saturday morning, leaving the lightweight class riders facing their first wet qualifying session of the year. A number of high-profile names were caught out by the change in conditions with championship leader Joan Mir the biggest of them, the championship leader sliding off at turn three.
Bendsneyder was making full use of his local knowledge, setting the pace with a 1:58.851 at the fifteen minute mark, and it looked as though he would hang on for a memorable first pole until the dying seconds of the session. With the sun now shining and the circuit drying out, Martin was able to unleash his sensational single lap pace with a 1:57.595 seeing him to pole by eight tenths of a second.
With Bendsneyder second, Nicolo Bulega completed the front row for Sky VR46 while Nakarin Atiratphuvapat demonstrated his wet-weather skill, the Thai rookie taking a magnificent fourth. Marco Bezzecchi also shone to qualify fifth ahead of championship challenger Aron Canet with Mir dropping to seventh after his mid-session mishap.
Tony Arbolino starts eighth ahead of Manuel Pagliani who ensured both CIP Mahindras will start on the front three rows with Tatsuki Suzuki rounding out the top ten.
Moto3 Motul TT Assen – Qualifying Result
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