Marquez utterly dominant in Aragon MotoGP qualifying

Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez dominated qualifying at the Aragon Grand Prix, beating his closest rivals by eight tenths of a second.

The margin for Marquez's pole - his 66th in MotoGP and his second with Ducati - was the biggest in class since the 2019 Brno weekend, when Marquez was also on pole.

A significant amount of rainfall between the end of Friday's running and the start of Saturday's meant all the rubber - and thus all the grip - had been washed away, effectively resetting the weekend and playing right into Marquez's hands.

He was duly quickest in pre-qualifying practice, comfortable as ever navigating the uncertain post-rain grip offered by the freshly-resurfaced Aragon venue, and went six tenths clear on his first Q2 run.

His second lap was more emphatic still, a 1m46.766s taking him over a second clear - although three rivals did then get within a second of the benchmark.

Title contenders Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia both managed it, but rookie Pedro Acosta (Tech3 Gas Gas) - having fought through Q1 - jumped ahead of both at the very end.

Bagnaia will join Marquez and Acosta on the front row, with Martin fourth - having recovered after a fall early in Q2 on approach to the treacherous Turn 5 left-hander.

Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati) made it five Ducatis in the top six.

KTM's Brad Binder, who had topped Q1 over Acosta, had to settle for seventh, followed by Trackhouse Aprilia duo Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez - who showed up the works bikes.

Honda's first Q2 appearance of the season resulted in 10th place for LCR rider Johann Zarco, while factory Aprilia riders Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales were badly off the pace in 11th and 12th.

Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) came up a tenth short of denying Acosta a Q2 spot and will line up 13th, ahead of works Ducati rider Enea Bastianini.

Bastianini, thwarted by yellow flags on Friday, looked off his game in the low-grip conditions, with even 14th representing a considerable salvage job.

It was one assisted by a seeming timing error on Jack Miller's side, with the KTM man - renowned for his pace in variable grip conditions - ahead after the first run but failing to get a clean flying lap on the second.

Miller ended up taking the chequered flag mere seconds after the timer hit zero, so could only watch as his fellow KTM riders demoted him out of Q2 contention.

Despite the unusual conditions - and despite Zarco's heroics to make Q2 on Friday - none of the Japanese bikes in Q1 really threatened to progress.

Fabio Quartararo was the lead Yamaha in the session in seventh (so 17th on the grid), while Takaaki Nakagami - who will start 18th - was the fastest of the three Honda riders in the opening segment.