Marc Marquez cruises to pole position at Assen, the University of Motorracing. Cal Crutchlow and Valentino Rossi will start from the front row, having prevailed in a grueling and tight contention. 

Tech 3's Johann Zarco and Suzuki Ecstar rider Alex Rins advanced to Q2 following a thrilling Q1 manche. The Spaniard opted for a Hard rear tyre, whereas the rest of the field chose a Soft tyre. As for the front tyre, the majority of the field went on the Medium, except for Aleix Espargaro, Zarco and Vinales. 

Takaaki Nakagami was the best of the rest, as he qualified in 13th. Amongst the underperformers in today’s Q1 there are Daniel Pedrosa, who is down in 18th while his teammate obliterates his 75th career pole, and Jack Miller in 16th.  

The fight for pole position opened with a rapid exchange of leaders on the timesheets, as the track displayed a very quick evolution. After the first run, Marquez was the man to beat with a mighty 1'33''330, having polished Rins and Petrucci's laptime by almost two tenths.

As Jorge Lorenzo went out for the second run, it was a matter of seconds before the picture of today's qualifying at Assen would be flipped. The Spaniard clocked a 1'33''167, but shortly after Andrea Iannone turned the tables. The provisional pole slipped through the Italian's fingers, as Marquez stormed to pole, with Crutchlow and Rossi closely following him after improving their laptimes sector by sector. 

The unmatchable 1'32''791 was worth the top spot for HRC's Marquez, who will start from pole position tomorrow. Andrea Dovizioso will open the second row as the best qualifier for Ducati today, whereas teammate Jorge Lorenzo is down in 10th. A solid Alex Rins, who got through Q1 before joining the pole position pack, qualified 5th ahead of Maverick Vinales' Yamaha. 

Aleix Espargaro and Johann Zarco both delivered a convincing result, respectively in 7th and 8th. Andrea Iannone failed to bring his Suzuki any further than 9th, while his younger teammate outqualified him in dominating fashion, but the Italian managed to withstand both Jorge Lorenzo and Danilo Petrucci on their Ducatis. 

Here are the results:

1. Marc Marquez 1’32’’791

2. Cal Crutchlow 

3. Valentino Rossi

4. Andrea Dovizioso

5. Alex Rins

6. Maverick Viñales

7. Aleix Espargaro

8. Johann Zarco 

9. Andrea Iannone

10. Jorge Lorenzo

11. Danilo Petrucci

12. Alvaro Bautista

13. Takaaki Nakagami

14. Tito Rabat

15. Hafizh Syahrin

16. Jack Miller

17. Scott Redding

18. Dani Pedrosa

19. Karel Abraham

20. Bradley Smith 

21. Pol Espargaro 

22. Thomas Lüthi

23. Xavier Simeon 

24. Franco Morbidelli (withdrawn due to injury)