Marc Marquez has been left with work to do at Assen after Aprilia turned Dutch GP qualifying into a factory statement.
The Ducati rider will start seventh after a scrappy Q2, while MotoGP’s official feed highlighted Jorge Martin’s 1:30.812 pole lap and Aprilia’s front-row sweep with Ai Ogura and Marco Bezzecchi.
Aprilia Turns Pressure On Ducati
Martin’s pole mattered, but the shape of the grid mattered more. Aprilia put four RS-GPs inside the top four after Raul Fernandez briefly held provisional pole before losing the lap to track limits, leaving Ducati to chase from the second and third rows.
Francesco Bagnaia starts fifth, Fabio Di Giannantonio sixth and Marquez only seventh, creating a rare Sunday problem for the Ducati camp. It also sharpens the context of Marquez’s recent Assen caution, after he had already framed the weekend as one about damage limitation rather than dominance.
BIG day for Aprilia, with their first-ever top 4 qualifying lockout and @88jorgemartin securing his first pole with the Noale factory #DutchGP
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) June 27, 2026
Why Marquez Now Faces A Different Race
Assen usually rewards precision through long, loaded corners, and starting from row three exposes Marquez to traffic before he can attack the Aprilias. That makes the sprint start critical, especially with Bagnaia already fighting to keep Ducati in the Dutch GP picture.
The headline is Martin’s pole. The bigger warning is that Aprilia has moved from nuisance to pace-setter at a circuit where Ducati expected to control the front group.
