Monster Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales maintained his dominate performance at the Assen TT Circuit by topping the Dutch GP FP3 times on Saturday morning.

The M1 rider was joined by teammate Fabio Quartararo and Pol Espargaro in the frenetic session with the Repsol man closely pursued by his elder brother on the Aprilia - the latter pair retaining their places in the top-three overall. Disappointment for Ducati saw Jack Miller the only representative to secure direct promotion to the afternoon’s Q2 battle.

A slightly battered and limping Marc Marquez was straight out on track as FP3 fired up on Saturday morning, after his massive turn 11 highside on Friday afternoon. Aleix Espargaro headed the times on his fourth lap with a 1’33.487, Joan Mir second just two-tenths back, as the pair became the first to improve in the combined times.

The pace continued to advance as Marquez sat second, the Yamaha’s joining the party as Quartararo took the lead and Viñales found fourth before Espargaro hit back once again.

Johann Zarco dented his progress as a wobble into turn three left his Pramac Ducati rolling through the gravel with his rookie teammate entering the top-10, in seventh. The Yamaha/Aprilia battle continuing out front.

Pol Espargaro jumped his brother to take second with half an hour to go, as Viñales continued to dominate. Quartararo the next to demote the Espargaro duo with a Monster Energy one-two, as Pecco Bagnaia rose to fifth ahead of the second Repsol machine. Miguel Oliveira started his Saturday campaign in seventh ahead of Mir, Zarco and Alex Rins with Iker Lecuona sat just outside the top-10 in both the session and the overall times.

The second half of the standings found Alex Marquez and Danilo Petrucci heading Miller, Takaaki Nakagami and Brad Binder with Valentino Rossi circling in 17th. Lorenzo Savadori, Jorge Martin and Luca Marini ahead of Enea Bastianini with Garrett Gerloff facing a steep learning curve from the back of the field.

Another commanding lap saw Viñales half a second clear of the rest, despite the Spaniard starting the weekend on the same setup as his disastrous GermanGP. Rins advancing the Suzuki’s pace to fifth as Gerloff secured a personal best on his way to 20th, just two places behind his veteran teammate.

Nakagami sat fourth with 15-minutes to go as Quartararo took the lead, Martin advancing on the second Pramac into ninth as his teammate, just one-tenth back, circulated in 13th. The LCR man losing his lap due to track limit shortly after as Mir and Petrucci rose to six and seventh respectively.

The pace was heating up as the clock counted down. Rossi narrowly missing out on the top-10 with his 13th lap as Mir continued to improve, this time to third. Oliveira followed the Suzuki, to fourth, with Miller seventh as Rossi found his way into Q2 contention. The dream was short-lived, however, as Savadori took his shot, taking ninth, to demote ‘the Doctor’ with Bagnaia doing likewise moments later for 10th - one-second back from the leading M1.

The Ducati’s progress continued as he rose to fifth, Martin narrowly behind in sixth as the Espargaro brothers remained tight in seventh and eighth - Miller and Rins in the danger zone as the top-10 shuffled again.

Five minutes to go and the timing screens ignited, personal best sectors flying in as the session neared its conclusion. Rossi stormed to sixth as Pol Espargaro returned to the top-three, Mir consolidating fourth as Nakagami advanced to fifth. Oliveira headed Rossi as Rins demoted them to seventh and eighth on his way to taking fifth from the LCR Honda. Ducati riders holding ninth to 12th as Espargaro’s Aprilia hit back to fourth and demoted Zarco out of contention.

A late crash for Gerloff brought out the yellow flags in the opening sector as Martin’s lap was cancelled in the final chicane. Miller claiming the final direct entry position as Rossi secured Q2 for the fourth time this year.