Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) was 10
seconds back from Quartararo in seventh,
just ahead of the factory Aprilia of Aleix Es-
pargaro (Gresini Aprilia). Nakagami dropped
to ninth while Pol Espargaro (Repsol
Honda) rounded out the top 10.
The race was a baptism by fire for Ameri-
can Garrett Gerloff, who filled in for the
injured Franco Morbidelli on the Petronas
Yamaha. Gerloff acquitted himself well to
the task of the MotoGP Yamaha and the As-
sen circuit, a new venue for the Texan. Dur-
ing a race-long battle, Gerloff got the better
of Luca Marini on the Sky VR46 Ducati to
MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 8 / JUNE 25-27, 2021
TT CIRCUIT ASSEN / ASSEN, HOLL AND
P64
MYOWNRACE
first part of the circuit, I made up some
ground, but I lost a lot from him in the last
sector. It was hard figh ng with Nakagami,
too. In my a empt to defend myself, I
exceeded the track limits twice and had to
serve a long-lap penalty. At that point, it
wasn't easy to make up posi ons. I apolo-
gize to my team for this mistake, which I
could have avoided, but today I really gave
it all to try and bring home as many points
as possible."
43 JACK MILLER
DNF MOTOGP
"This is definitely not the easiest track for
us, but I was hoping for a different ending
to this weekend," Miller said of his crash.
"Unfortunately, at turn five, there was a
bit of confusion with Nakagami and Mir,
and in an a empt to avoid a possible
contact, I braked too early and lost control
of the front, which caused me to crash. At
that moment, I was maybe more focused
on what was happening in front of me
and not on my riding, and obviously I am
annoyed about this mistake. It's a pity
because it was important to get some
points today. We are not far behind in the
championship, so now we have to move
on and try to get back to winning ways in
the next two races scheduled in Austria
a er the summer break."
(Above) Halfway done in 2021 and Fabio
Quartararo's looking pretty good for a maiden
title. (Right) After getting punted off track by
Johann Zarco in the early stages, Alex Rins (42)
battled back to finish 11th. Alex Marquez (73)
came home 14th.
