In Moto3 FP1, it was Gresini’s Jorge Martin who led the way from KTM’s Bo Bendsneyder and VR46’s Nicolo Bulega.

Championship leader Joan Mir finished the first session in a respectable fifth place. The top 19 riders were all covered by less than 1.5 seconds.

1. Jorge Martin, Del Conca Gresini Moto3 – 1:27.868
2. Bo Bendsneyder, Red Bull KTM Ajo + 0.111
3. Nicolo Bulega, Sky Racing Team VR46 + 0.153
4. Phillipp Oettl, Südmetall Schedl GP Racing + 0.388
5. Joan Mir, Leopard Racing + 0.403
6. Marcos Ramirez, Platinum Bay Real Estate + 0.405
7. Enea Bastianini, Estrella Galicia 0,0 + 0.563
8. Livio Loi, Leopard Racing + 0.591
9. Aron Canet, Estrella Galicia 0,0 + 0.704
10. Fabio Di Giannantonio, Del Conca Gresini Moto3 + 0.720

Action in FP2 was brought to an abrupt halt, as Jorge Martin went down at Turn 1. The session was red flagged as it appeared the Spaniard was in immense pain, unable to move himself off the track. Martin was taken to the medical centre via ambulance and it was later revealed that he had suffered a fractured right ankle. He has been declared unfit for the rest of the German GP weekend.

The session restarted at 13:35 (local time), and it was championship leader Joan Mir who topped the times from Romano Fenati and Phillipp Oettl. Livio Loi is having his best weekend of the season so far, with two top ten finishes during the sessions.

Danny Kent is stepping in with the Red Bull KTM Ajo team this weekend for an injured Nico Antonelli and finished the first session in 22^nd and the second session in 16^th. However, it was later announced that he would receive a 12-place grid penalty for riding slowly during practice.

The weather soon turned and at the end of the session, rain was spitting all over the track leaving MotoGP FP2 as a wet session.

1. Joan Mir, Leopard Racing + 1:27.179
2. Romano Fenati, Marinelli Rivacold Snipers + 0.676
3. Phillipp Oettl, Sudmetall Schedl GP Racing + 0.732
4. Livio Loi, Leopard Racing + 0.754
5. Nicolo Bulega, Sky Racing Team VR46 + 0.867
6. Marcos Ramirez, Platinum Bay Real Estate + 0.922
7. Enea Bastianini, Estrella Galicia 0,0 + 0.952
8. Aron Canet, Estrella Galicia 0,0 + 1.029
9. Bo Bendsneyder, Red Bull KTM Ajo + 1.114
10. Jakub Kornfeil, Peugeot MC Saxoprint + 1.152

In Moto2 FP1, Miguel Olivera led the way from championship leader Franco Morbidelli and Taka Nakagami.

A crash early on from Alex Marquez didn’t crush his determination, as he came back out and finished the session in a respectable seventh place.

Lorenzo Baldassari has been ruled out of the German Grand Prix after his crash in Assen, and is being replaced by Federico Fuligni who finished in last place, with team mate Luca Marini only finishing 27^th.

Mattia Pasini is out to impress after his string of solid results, but was hampered in FP1 by a huge high side while on a fast lap. Thankfully, Pasini was okay but his session was brought to an early end by the crash as there was just too much damage to the bike. He finished FP1 in 17^th.

1. Miguel Olivera, Red Bull KTM Ajo – 1:24.976
2. Franco Morbidelli, EG 0,0 Marc VDS + 0.239
3. Taka Nakagami, IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia + 0.242
4. Simone Corsi, Speed Up Racing + 0.371
5. Dominique Aegerter, Kiefer Racing + 0.378
6. Marcel Schrotter, Dynavolt Intact GP + 0.391
7. Alex Marquez, EG 0,0 Marc VDS + 0.442
8. Hafizh Syahrin, Petronas Raceline Malaysia + 0.494
9. Francesco Bagnaia, Sky Racing Team VR46 + 0.713
10. Jorge Navarro, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 + 0.737

The track was pretty much dry by the time the last session of the day came around.

Morbidelli took over the top spot from Bagnaia with 12 minutes to go, but Thomas Luthi bit back, eager to improve on his 11^th place finish in FP1. He took the top spot and ran with it, constantly improving his times up to the flag. Morbidelli sat comfortably behind, up until the last minute where Marcel Schrotter pulled out a 1:24.8 to slot him in behind the leader.

Morbidelli was shunted back to third, with Bagnaia and Nakagami behind him.

1. Thomas Luthi, CarXpert Interwetten – 1:24.848
2. Marcel Schrotter, Dynavolt Intact GP + 0.046
3. Franco Morbidelli, EG 0,0 Marc VDS + 0.229
4. Francesco Bagnaia, Sky Racing Team VR46 + 0.232
5. Taka Nakagami, IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia + 0.404
6. Sandro Cortese, Dynavolt Intact GP + 0.431
7. Miguel Olivera, Red Bull KTM Ajo + 0.458
8. Alex Marquez, EG 0,0 Marc VDS + 0.592
9. Dominique Aegerter, Kiefer Racing + 0.694
10. Hafizh Syahrin, Petronas Raceline Malaysia + 0.735

Assen, the Cathedral of Speed and one of the most iconic circuits on any racing calendar, saw MotoGP roll up this past weekend for the eighth round of the championship, the Dutch Grand Prix.

Last year wet weather threw the whole race up in the air and eventually saw Jack Miller take his first ever premier class win and on an independent bike - shunning all of the critics who said it couldn't be done.

In typical Dutch fashion, the rain poured heavy into race day once again and iit was Johann Zarco who lined up in pole position, securing his first ever top class pole position with the independent Yamaha Tech3 team.

Marc Marquez and Danilo Petrucci rounded off the front row. Most notably, however, Jorge Lorenzo lined up in 21st position - his worst ever MotoGP qualifying on his factory Ducati.

Zarco would lead away when the lights went out and it looked as if he was controlling the race pace as he began to slowly break away from the pack behind him.

The 2016 Moto2 champion had opted for the soft tyre option - a strange choice considering the track conditions at the time and with 15 laps to go, he was battling Rossi at the front.

The Italian legend would run wide at Ossebroeken, with Zarco seeing his chance to get underneath the factory Yamaha but as Rossi moved back in the pair touched, forcing the Tech3 rider to drop back to third behind Marquez.

With the rain returning at the start of lap 19, the white flags came out meaning that all riders could pit to change bikes if they wanted to. Zarco was the first to take the gamble, coming out of pit lane with full wets but the Frenchman was later given a ride through penalty for exceeding pit lane speed limits.

Back at the front and Rossi was making a lead for himself, with Petrucci his main rival in the final part of the race. The pair swapped positions, with Dovizioso and Marquez doing the same behind them.

Championship leader Maverick Vinales was out of the race after crashing out earlier on and it was everything to play for as the Spaniard's championship lead hung in the balance. Dovizioso, winner of the last two races, was clearly intent on scoring as best as he could, knowing full well that he could soon be the new championship leader.

On the last lap it came down to the wire, as both Rossi and Petrucci were hampered by backmarkers Hector Barbera and Alex Rins. Although Rossi dealt with them easily, Petrucci found it more difficult, claiming that no blue flags were shown and they had possibly cost him his maiden win.

Ultimately, it was Valentino Rossi who took his first win since Barcelona 2016 from Danilo Petrucci and Marc Marquez on the Honda. Britain's Cal Crutchlow brought it home in 4th place after a hard fought battle with Dovizioso who finished less than half a second behind.

Last year's Assen winner Jack Miller finished in 6th, with Karel Abraham and Loris Baz both having spectacular races and finishing in 7th and 8th respectively. Andrea Iannone and Aleix Espargaro rounded out the top 10.

Andrea Dovizioso now leads the championship by four points from Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi with MotoGP returning to the Sachsenring next weekend for round nine of the championship, the German Grand Prix.

Andrea Dovizioso continued his top form this morning as he put the Ducati at the top of the time sheets in Free Practice 1, ahead of Maverick Viñales and Dani Pedrosa.

The track at the Sachsenring has recently been resurfaced and no teams have had the ability to test on the new asphalt. To help, each Free Practice session has been extended by 10 minutes and Michelin have brought four front and rear tyre options for the teams and riders to choose from.

The first session was not without its falls, which included Andrea Iannone, Scott Redding, Alvaro Bautista and Tito Rabat. There was also an early mechanical failure for Valentino Rossi.

The top 10 from FP1 was as follows:

1. Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team + 1:21.599
2. Maverick Viñales, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP + 0.038
3. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team + 0.190
4. Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini + 0.233
5. Alvaro Bautista, Pull&Bear Aspar Team + 0.241
6. Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team + 0.299
7. Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 0.374
8. Danilo Petrucci, OCTO Pramac Racing + 0.393
9. Jack Miller EG 0,0 Marc VDS + 0.469
10. Scott Redding, OCTO Pramac Racing + 0.476

Rain, which is predicted for much of the weekend, meant Free Practice 2 was a wet session, with the track beginning to dry slightly once the rain had stopped.

Yamaha seemed to be struggling in the tricky conditions as Jonas Folger on the Tech 3 machinery in 8^th was the fastest on the Japanese machinery with Zarco, Viñales and Rossi trailing behind in 18^th, 20^th and 15^th respectively.

Hector Barbera took the top spot in the closing minutes of the session, from Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa while Andrea Iannone did anything but impress during today’s sessions, finishing both in last place.

Top 10 for FP2:

1. Hector Barbera, Reale Avintia Racing 1:28.115
2. Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team + 0.063
3. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team + 0.353
4. Danilo Petrucci, OCTO Pramac Racing + 0.353
5. Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini + 0.412
6. Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda + 0.501
7. Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team + 0.638
8. Jonas Folger, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 0.873
9. Sam Lowes, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini + 0.879
10. Jorge Lorenzo, Ducati Team + 0.902

Yamaha Tech 3 rookie Johann Zarco and Jorge Lorenzo went quickest in a wet and tricky MotoGP FP4 at Assen, before conditions then worsened and the times remained top.

Alvaro Bautista and Jack Miller  were third and fourth.

FP4 Result:

source: motogp.com