Ai Ogura takes his first ever MotoGP victory in Assen

The start went well for Ai Ogura, who just like yesterday got the lead into Turn 1. But Martin was right behind him and had a better exit from Turn 1, taking the lead. Also, Raúl Fernández had a brilliant start as he moved to 3rd place, meanwhile Marco Bezzecchi was fighting off Marc Márquez.

And Bezzecchi made a mistake, allowing Bezzecchi to catch up. There was a yellow flag as Joan Mir had crashed out between Turn 10 and 11. After lap 1, the order of the top 10 looked as follows: Martín, Ogura, Fernández, M. Márquez, Bezzecchi, Bagnaia, Acosta, Quartararo, Di Giannantonio, A. Márquez.

Marc Márquez, starting lap 2, made a brilliant overtake, where he overtook both riders of Trackhouse Racing, moving to 2nd place. Not shortly after, Fernández returned the overtake, moving to 2nd.

At the end of lap 2, Marco Bezzecchi had a high-speed crash at Turn 15, retiring from the race. The race stewards announced that Bezzecchi was taken to a medical centre for a check-up.

Meanwhile, Martín at the front had made a comfortable gap to Fernández in second place. Pedro Acosta had good pace, as he managed to overtake Bagnaia and move to 5th place.

Ai Ogura finally managed to respond to Marc Márquez, as he overtook him and moved to 3rd place. Shortly after, Pedro Acosta also managed to get ahead of Marc, but Marc quickly returned it, making it a thrilling fight for 4th place.

At the front, Fernández closed down the gap that Martín had created, and was trailing closely behind him.

On lap 7, Acosta finally got ahead of Marc Márquez. This fight allowed Bagnaia to catch up to them. On this lap, Cal Crutchlow retired from the race as he made his way back into the pits.

On lap 8, Marc Márquez responded with an overtake on Acosta, taking back his 4th place. But Acosta didn’t give up, preparing another overtake and staying closely behind Marc. Acosta tried an overtake into Turn 1 on the inside, but he didn’t have enough time to brake and ran wide, dropping to 6th place.

On lap 10, the top 10 looked as follows: Martín, Fernández, Ogura, M. Márquez, Bagnaia, Acosta, Di Giannantonio, A. Márquez, Bastianini, Quartararo. There was another yellow flag; this one was caused by Franco Morbidelli crashing out at Turn 4.

Bagnaia managed to move to the front as he overtook Marc. Acosta seemed to have another technical problem with his bike, as he dropped down the order and made his way back into the pits to retire. Also, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu made his way back to the pits to retire from the race.

Another technical difficulty struck Francesco Bagnaia, as the rider slowly made his way back to the pits.

Meanwhile at the front, Martín managed to get away from Fernández, as Ogura in third place started to close down on Fernández, making it a trio at the front close to each other. But Ogura went wide at the exit and had to again catch up to the leading duo.

On lap 17, Raúl Fernández attacked on the inside and took the lead of the race, while his teammate Ogura overtook Martín into Turn 1.

Ai Ogura made an overtake on his teammate, taking the lead of the race. Meanwhile, Di Giannantonio tried to overtake M. Márquez; the riders made contact and Márquez had to cut through the gravel.

On lap 21, the top 10 looked as follows: Ogura, Fernández, Martín, Di Giannantonio, A. Márquez, M. Márquez, Bastianini, Quartararo, Binder, Rins.

At the front, Ogura managed to get a gap of almost 1s over Fernández. Down the grid, Marc lost another position, this time to Bastianini. But Marc didn’t give up, and shortly after managed to respond with an overtake, moving back to 6th.

However, the incident between Di Giannantonio and Marc Márquez ended with a long-lap penalty for Di Giannantonio for a shortcut. After he completed the long lap, he dropped behind Marc Márquez to 6th.

With 2 laps to go, Álex Márquez very visibly slowed down and was struggling. In the last turn, Di Giannantonio tried the same overtake; this time it was done cleanly and he moved to 5th place. At the front, Ogura was focusing on safely bringing home his first MotoGP victory. Álex Márquez lost his position to Di Giannantonio and moved down to 5th.

Ai Ogura took his first ever MotoGP victory and became the first MotoGP rider to win a MotoGP race in 22 years. His teammate Fernández finished in 2nd place, with Martín rounding out the podium.

2026 MotoGP Grand Prix of Netherlands