Jorge Martin claimed pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, leading 1-2-3-4 result for Aprilia in qualifying.
The Spaniard set a blistering time of 1m30.812s on his factory Aprilia, pipping the Trackhouse-entered RS-GP of Ai Ogura by just 0.011s.
The top six riders were separated by just 0.143 in another closely-fought qualifying session in the last year of the 1000cc rule cycle.
The battle for pole position largely boiled down to a straight fight between the two official Aprilias of Martin and championship leader Marco Bezzecchi.
The Italian, who missed the Czech GP after a race ban for pushing a marshal, set the initial pace with a time of 1m30.853.
However, Martin managed to go fractionally quicker during the same run, giving himself a narrow advantage heading into the final part of the session.
With just a few minutes remaining in qualifying, Raul Fernandez briefly moved to the top spot of the timesheets with a 1m30.796s, but his lap time was quickly deleted for a track limit infringement.
With Bezzecchi failing to improve on his first run, Martin held on to claim his maiden pole position of the season, bouncing back from two difficult weekends in Balaton Park and Brno.
Ai Ogura, Trackhouse Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
Czech GP pole sitter Ogura was one of the few riders to go quicker on his final run, shuffling down points leader Bezzecchi to third place.
Fernandez ended up fourth after his best time was deleted, but he nevertheless helped Aprilia lock out the top four spots on the grid.
Francesco Bagnaia was once again Ducati’s best-placed rider at Assen, ending up just a tenth of the outright pace in fifth. Fabio di Giannantonio qualified sixth for VR46, while reigning champion Marc Marquez had to settle for seventh after losing multiple lap times to track limits infringements.
Further back, Pedro Acosta wound up eighth after encountering yet more technical problems on his factory KTM, the Spaniard parking his bike in the final minutes of the session.
Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir were the lone representatives for Yamaha and Honda in Q2, both making their way from the opening leg of qualifying to finish ninth and 10th respectively, ahead of Tech3’s Enea Bastianini.
Despite being declared fit by MotoGP’s doctor Angel Charte, Gresini’s Alex Marquez elected to sit out qualifying to focus on his recovery, leaving him 12th on the grid.
His team-mate Fermin Aldeguer has already been ruled out of the weekend after suffering a fracture to his vertebra in a crash on Friday.
Franco Morbidelli ended up 13th for VR46, while Diogo Moreira’s Q2 streak came to an end as he could only qualify 14th aboard the LCR Honda. The duo will be joined on the fifth row of the grid by KTM’s Brad Binder.
The 22-bike field was propped up by Pramac rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu, who ended up behind both Yamaha wildcard Augusto Fernandez and Johann Zarco’s stand-in Cal Crutchlow (LCR).
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– The Autosport.com Team
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