PECCO PURRING AS TRACK DRIES

ITALY’S Pecco Bagnaia believes he can be ready for whatever the Dutch weather throws at him during this weekend’s MotoGP after emerging quickest at Assen yesterday.

The Ducati Lenovo rider (above) is keen to make amends after crashing out of last Sunday’s race in Germany – and after ending day one on top is confident he can make up ground on points leader Fabio Quartararo.

As team-mate Jack Miller topped the times in a wet opening practice, Bagnaia led the way as the rain stopped and a dry line began to form later in the day – saving his best until last with a 1min 33.274sec lap on slick tyres just as the session ended.

He said: “This afternoon it was really tough with the conditions but we were waiting a bit in the box until we could go on to the slick tyres.

“I prefer this track dry, in the wet it’s a bit scary. We could have both conditions for the race but we’ll try and be ready for everything.”

Bagnaia’s late lap nudged Aleix Espargaro down to second, with Quartararo third quickest.