Piqueras snatches pole from Furusato as Veijer crashes

Angel Piqueras (Leopard Racing) has taken a magnificent maiden pole position in the Moto3 class after an unbelievable final lap of the session. Piqueras left it late but would set a phenomenal 1:39.746 as the chequered flag flew. The Spaniard will start ahead of Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia), who briefly topped the timesheets before pole position was stolen by the #36. However, in third place was Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP), who had mixed feelings after an incredibly eventful session where the #95 crashed on his third lap at the final corner – unable to improve on his time.

Veijer goes down as Piqueras finds time

It was an important Q1 session for some with Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo), taking the top spot and sneaking through to Q2.  Joining the #99 for Q2 was Matteo Bertelle (Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team), Joel Esteban (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team), and Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP’s Tatsuki Suzuki. This led to a packed Q2 session, with fast times from the first run and Veijer opening the session with a 1:40.055 before the Dutchman crashed on the exit of the final corner.

As Veijer’s time worked furiously to try and repair his machine, the rest of the field made their way out of the pitlane for the final flying laps. Rueda jumped from ninth to briefly third before Yamanaka was able to find time in the final two minutes of the session – leaping to the front row. However, all attention soon turned to Furusato and Piqueras, who found time on their last flying laps with the latter stealing pole position.

Championship contenders with work to do

Back on the second row Ivan Ortola (MT Helmets – MSI) continued to show strong pace in fourth, working with teammate Yamanaka who will start alongside the #48 in fifth position. Yamanaka missed out on pole position by 0.367s and now turns his attention to Sunday where he will start alongside Stefano Nepa (LEVELUP – MTA), who will line up P6 on the grid.

Rueda used all of his Q1 knowledge to consolidate seventh on the grid for the Dutch GP – heading the third row. The #99 set seven laps during qualifying and will start alongside Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing), who suffered a late crash at turn 7. Finally, fellow Q1 graduate Esteban will start from ninth as the top CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team bike.

However, some big key contenders will start further down the grid including David Alonso (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team), who has qualified down in 13^th – 0.711s adrift from the top spot. Joining the #80 on the fifth row of the grid will be Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Daniel Holgado down in 15^th.

It is almost time to go race at Assen with lights put on Sunday at 11:00 local time (UTC +2), so make sure you don’t miss any of the action on motogp.com!

Top 10:

FULL RESULTS!