Jorge Lorenzo was the overall pace-setter as free practice began on Thursday ahead of the Iveco TT Assen. However, the World Champion’s day was brought to an abrupt end when the Yamaha Factory Racing rider suffered a high-speed accident and broke his left collarbone in the rain-affected afternoon session.

Lorenzo registered a best lap time of 1’53.263 in the morning period, leading the way from Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow and Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez in what would prove to be the only all-dry MotoGP™ session of the day. Marquez would go on to top the second session, but was 14 seconds off Lorenzo’s earlier best as the forecast showers finally struck the historic venue.


The crash for Lorenzo came at the rapid Hoge Heide section running up to Ramshoek, which precedes the Geert Timmer chicane at the end of the lap. The Mallorcan was taken to the circuit Medical Centre and provided with painkillers, having been caught out by standing watch before landing heavily on his left shoulder. The fractured collarbone was confirmed just under ten minutes after the session ended. He will now remain under observation in an Assen hospital for 12 hours and a CT scan will be carried out, before returning to Barcelona where surgery will take place on Friday.

Marquez, Crutchlow, Aleix Espargaro (Power Electronics Aspar) and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) were also caught out by the conditions, with Espargaro being taken to the Medical Centre with some bruising. More rain showers have been predicted for the remainder of the race weekend on Friday and Saturday. Third practice begins at 9:55am local time (GMT +2) on Friday.

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