Monster Yamaha dominated MotoGP qualifying at Assen with multiple record-breaking laps as Maverick Viñales ultimately denied Fabio Quartararo for the DutchGP’s pole position.

The Frenchman has set the pace with a new all-time circuit record from his third lap, before his teammate bettered with a 1’31.814 on his sixth attempt. Pecco Bagnaia battled through Q1 to win a four-rider fight for the final front row position in the closing seconds.

Marc Marquez, Johann Zarco and Bagnaia led the way as MotoGP qualifying rolled out of pitlane for the opening 15-minute session. Bagnaia set a 1’32.761 with his first flying lap as Jorge Martin joined him in the top-two, four-tenths back, while Zarco and Alex Marquez returned to the pits without recording a time.

Iker Lecuona was inches away from the promotion zone as his fastest lap failed to better the Pramac rider by 0.092s with Tech3 teammate Danilo Petrucci sitting fourth at the halfway stage. Lorenzo Savadori headed Marquez and Brad Binder in the mid pack with Garrett Gerloff a second clear of the Avintia pair of Enea Bastianini and Luca Marini.

The final runs fired up with three-minutes on the clock, Petrucci and Lecuona bickering for second before the former’s lap was deleted. Martin looked to challenge before running wide as Bagnaia pushed on to consolidate his position, Marquez crashing out on his Repsol from 10th in the session, and facing a 20th place grid start for Sunday’s race.

A final hot-lap effort from Zarco saw the Frenchman on track for promotion, breaking Lecuona’s heart as he demoted him out of the promotion zone with Ducati locking out the top-two.

The hunt for pole saw 12 premier class machines attack the TT Circuit as soon as the session went green, Viñales taking the initial lead before Quartararo took over by a mere 0.077s. Fully up to speed after his Q1 experience, Zarco joined the front runners in third on his third lap with Jack Miller fourth, Takaaki Nakagami and Aleix Espargaro following the Ducati’s as Miguel Oliveira sat seventh.

Quartararo delighted Yamaha with a record-breaking tour of the Assen track, registering a 1’31.922 on only his third attempt of the 15-minute session, Alex Rins and Bagnaia circulating one-second adrift of the championship leader’s effort in eighth and ninth. Pol Espargaro, Valentino Rossi and Joan Mir completing the set with five-minutes left to run.

Viñales challenged his teammate with another blistering lap, 1’31.814 now the benchmark and record-breaking time with two-minutes to go.

A final flurry saw Bagnaia, Oliveira and Nakagami all take turns in the battle for the front row before the Ducati rider denied LCR in the dying seconds. Zarco completed the session fifth from Oliveira with Rins crashing out at turn eight and starting seventh on the grid. Miller settled for eighth ahead of Aprilia’s Espargaro with Mir heading the younger brother and Rossi on row four.