Fabio Quartararo topped FP1 for the Dutch TT at Assen, besting Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales by just 0.077.
Vinales had led most of the session after setting a 1: 34.412 early in the session, before a flurry of improvements came as the minutes ticked down on the 45 minute test.
He was the first rider to drop under the 1:34 mark as he improved to a 1:33.986 with just seconds remaining, shortly before SRT Petronas rider Quartararo usurped him shortly after with a marginally quicker 1:33.909.
Danilo Petrucci managed the third fastest time for Ducati despite a high speed crash early in the session. He lost the back of his Desmosedici machine through the Turn 14 left hander and slid into the gravel.
He looked set to take the fastest time as he was nearly two-tenths up on Quartararo’s time half-way round his final lap, but ultimately came up 0.260 short in third.
Alex Rins took fourth for Suzuki, while Takaaki Nakagami once again impressed for the LCR Honda squad as he rounded out the top five.
Championship leader Marc Marquez was sixth ahead of the second LCR Honda of Cal Crutchlow, with Karel Abraham an excellent eighth for the Avintia squad.
Capping off the top ten runners were KTM’s Pol Espargaro and Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller.
Andrea Iannone managed an encouraging 11th on his Aprilia, while several front runners languished far down the leader board in this first session.
Andrea Dovizioso on the second factory Ducati was 12th, while Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo could muster just the 16th and 18th fastest times.
Alongside Petrucci, several other riders also experienced a close look at the Dutch gravel traps. Nakagami crashed at Turn 8 early in the session, while Aleix Esparagro and Lorenzo also went down later in the session, at Turns 5 and 7 respectively.
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