Motorsport

Monster Energy Yamaha duo dominates Dutch GP podium

Michelle Liew

June 28, 2021

Double delight as Fabio Quartararo sweeps his fourth win of the season and Maverick Viñales caps the Top 2 in the TT Circuit Assen.

Monster Energy Yamaha team duo claims 1-2 in Assen.

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The Dutch Grand Prix ended spectacularly as we saw Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team clinch a 1-2, its first since the 2017 Argentina Grand Prix. Fabio Quartararo maintained his momentum for a stellar victory to provide Yamaha with its fifth victory of the season. Teammate Maverick Viñales made the moment even more memorable when he came in second place at the TT Circuit Assen.

Quartararo had a good start from second to take the holeshot but was not able to break away. He struggled at first with Francesco Bagnaia but managed to complete the opening lap in second. The Frenchman was set to improve his position and on lap 6, he hit the front, setting a 1’32.897s on lap 7 to create a 0.648s gap. El Diablo then continued a faultless race to clinch his fourth victory and sixth podium of the season.

Viñales had a good launch from pole but fell back to fifth place in the first corner. The Spaniard completed lap 1 in fourth and had his work cut out for him. He was looking to hang on to the leading trio whilst at the same time defending his position from Johann Zarco. Later on, he overtook Takaaki Nakagami, and with Bagnaia being handed a long-lap penalty, Top Gun took over second place on lap 1. He even set a personal best lap of 1’33.045s on lap 18, taking a big chunk out of Quartararo’s lead. He kept pushing, but ultimately had to settle for second place and 20 championship points.

The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team will be enjoying a five-week summer break before returning to the tracks for the Styrian GP in Spielberg, Austria from August 6-8.

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP)- As It Happened

“I’m really happy, especially because during the weekend I did only bad starts, and I mean really bad, and I was actually a bit worried. But with the team we always get the job done and save the best for the race. Today it was like this, so I am so happy. It was a really good race. It was a tough one, but we did it. I think today is the perfect day to go on holiday after a victory. I will go see my family straight away to enjoy this moment and spend some time with them.”

Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP)- As It Happened

“For me this was a great Sunday too! It’s been a long time since I was last on the podium. It was good. Honestly, I’m very happy. Actually, the second part of the race was fast. I was able to do fast laps, but I just expected a bit more from the beginning. I knew immediately when I was behind Nakagami for ten laps that I lost the race, because also the tyres suffered. Zarco was attacking me, and I was controlling the gap between me and Nakagami to make sure I wasn’t overheating the tyres, so it was a very complicated race, but in the end, it finished in a good way.”