MotoGP Championship leader Marc Marquez led the session at the factory Ducati, brushing off a massive early crash in FP1 at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Mark Marquez comes to Assen from the back of a back-to-back weekend with Paul, Sprint victory and Grands Prix in the previous round at Muguero and the previous round at Aragon.
This was immediately under pressure during the opening phase of FP1 on Friday morning, but gave him a 40-point lead to the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen this weekend.
The factory Ducati rider lost the Ducati rear end and passed through a fast turn 15 left-handed person and flicked to gravel.
His left hand and arm took a terrible knock as he slid over his asphalt lips marking the beginning of the gravel trap.
He had to be seen by the MotoGP medical chief, but rejoined the session with about 19 minutes of the remaining 45 minutes of FP1.
He quickly set the fastest time for the session, but was using fresh medium rear rubber, but this time it would be better than 1M32.216 at the end of FP1.
He led Tech3 KTM rider Maverick Vinals, who was in Marquez’s 0.313 seconds, but set the best lap of 1M32.529 with a 20-lap medium rear at the end of the session.
Aprilia’s Marco Betzecchi completed the top three with a 1M32.570, with last year’s Dutch Grand Prix winner Francesco Bagnaia taking fourth place with a 1M32.609S.
Bagnaia will be appearing on teammate Marc Marquez, who is following the trail with 110 points this weekend when the Dutch Grand Prix is in the championship.
At one stage in FP1, Bagnaia led the way and looked generally more comfortable on the bike than she did at Italian Grand Prix last Sunday.
Fabio di Giannantonio was fifth in the major VR46 run Ducati, with Yamaha’s Fabio Cartalaro completing the top six.
Alex Marquez, second in the ranking, was seventh in Grescini Ducati ahead of LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco, Grescini’s Fermin Aldegar and sister factory Yamaha Alex Rins.
Aldeguer had his own large stage in the late stages of FP1 after passing through the right-handed Fast Turn 12.
Pedro Acosta was the next best KTM on the 11th, and his teammate Brad Binder fell to 20th.
This weekend’s Honda in-in-in-in-Alex Espargaro by Luca Marini was 21st at the end of his first practice session since the UK’s Grand Prix in May.
He did the LCR Hondaruki Som Kiat Chantra in about 0.5 seconds.
Assen’s FP1 was almost an hour late as fluid flowed at the end of the opening Moto3 session, but this afternoon’s 1 hour practice is still scheduled to run at BST at 2pm.
2025 MotoGP Netherlands Grand Prix Full FP1 Results