MotoGP: Bagnaia beats Quartararo to take pole in Spanish GP
Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia beats Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo to MotoGP Spanish GP pole, with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro in third.
Q1:
The first part of MotoGP qualifying in Spanish GP at Jerez saw Suzuki’s Alex Rins lead the way provisionally from Honda’s Pol Espargaro but the latter came back to take the lead as KTM’s Brad Binder stood third for most part of the session.
The second run saw VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi take the top spot before falling down. He looked all set to take it away but for the late charge from Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco who set a 1m37.003s lap to set the pace and make it into Q2.
Despite his fall, Bezzecchi’s 1m37.135s lap was enough for a Q2 spot as Honda’s Espargaro missed out in third by 0.003s. He is to start the Spanish MotoGP race from 13th ahead of Suzuki’s Rins with Binder in 15th after one of his laps was deleted due to track limits.
Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli slotted in 16th from Gresini Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio as Tech 3 KTM’s Remy Gardner ended up 18th even though he crashed at Turn 5. VR46’s Luca Marini was 19th from Honda’s wildcard entrant Stefan Bradl.
Late run from KTM’s Miguel Oliveira saw him only 21st with LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez in 22nd, RNF Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso 23rd, Aprilia wildcard entrant Lorenzo Savadori 24th and RNF’s Darryn Binder in 25th.
Q2:
The second part in MotoGP qualifying in Spanish GP saw early crash for Pramac’s Jorge Martin, who had to rush into the pits to switch onto the second bike. On track, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo set the pace provisionally from Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro slotted in third from Ducati’s Jack Miller and Honda’s Marc Marquez before they all ventured out for their final run. As they set out, Suzuki’s Joan Mir and Gresini’s Enea Bastianini both had separate crashes at different corners.
That certainly ruled them out of contention as Bagnaia went quickest with a 1m36.170s lap which was enough to hand him MotoGP pole in Spanish GP as Quartararo couldn’t improve on his final attempt to be second, with Espargaro regaining third in his final attempt.
Miller and Marquez stayed fourth and fifth as Zarco slotted in sixth from LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami, Bezzecchi, Mir, Martin, Bastianini and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales in the Top 12.
