Ominous Bagnaia claims first MotoGP pole of 2024

Pecco Bagnaia secured pole position for MotoGP’s Dutch TT with a new all-time lap record, continuing a dominant weekend for the factory Ducati rider.

The reigning champion set a 1m30.540s to top the timesheet, pipping points-leading Pramac rival Jorge Martin to take his first pole of 2024 by just over 0.1 seconds.

Bagnaia had already led both practice sessions on Friday - his first ever time topping FP1 in MotoGP - and will now line up first for both Saturday’s sprint and Sunday’s main race.

Martin had already set a new lap record earlier on in Q2, with a 1m30.877s on his first flying lap, with Bagnaia in second on his maiden attempt with a 1m21.048s.

The reigning world champion then shaved 0.3s off his best lap to go top and secure pole, with Martin unable to improve amid traffic troubles.

BEST OF THE REST

Maverick Vinales will line up alongside the Ducati pair on the front row, with Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez and Vinales’ Aprilia team-mate Aleix Espargaro in fifth.

Espargaro avoided late trouble after coming close to a crashing Marc Marquez, who slid off at Turn 7 as he attempted to repass Espargaro in the closing moments, having been passed at the final chicane.

VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio was running in third early on with a 1m31.274s, but did not improve and was demoted to sixth with that time.

Marc Marquez will start seventh after his late crash ahead of Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli and KTM rider Brad Binder.

Pedro Acosta lines up 10th having led Q1, where he set a 1m31.372s to top the timesheet before a very late crash, losing aero ahead of the crucial Q2 session, though his Tech3 GasGas machine was quickly repaired.

Enea Bastianini will start 11th on the factory Ducati, with Raul Fernandez 12th for Trackhouse Racing.

WHO MISSED OUT IN Q1

Fabio Di Giannantonio was second in the earlier qualifying session, moving into Q2 after knocking out factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo in the closing moments of the session with a 1m31.390s - less than 0.3s quicker than the Frenchman, who will line up 13th.

Jack Miller will start 14th for KTM, ahead of VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, who suffered two crashes on Saturday morning. The first came in FP3, sliding off at Turn 7, before crashing at Turn 5 in Q1 with two minutes left on the clock.

Yamaha rider Alex Rins lines up 16th ahead of Trackhouse Racing’s Miguel Oliveira and Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori.

Johann Zarco leads the Hondas on his LCR machine in 19th ahead of works pair Joan Mir and Luca Marini, with Augusto Fernandez (Tech3 GasGas) and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami rounding off the field.

PRACTICE SCARES

Earlier, in FP3, Marc Marquez headed out early on before realising he had forgotten his knee sliders, returning immediately to the Gresini garage to retrieve them. Soon after, team-mate and brother Alex suffered a bike issue and switched to his second machine.

Turn 7 claimed two victims in practice, with Raul Fernandez suffering a similar fate to Bezzecchi a similar fate five minutes later, prompting a red flag to clear gravel from the track and a trip to the medical centre for the Trackhouse Racing rider.