MotoGP

Bagnaia on Misano MotoGP pole, Quartararo crashes

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
6 min read

Ducati MotoGP rider Francesco Bagnaia broke the MotoGP Misano lap record en route to pole position for the San Marino Grand Prix, as points leader Fabio Quartararo crashed.

Quartararo held a clear lead after the opening runs, but was deposed by the two factory Ducatis of Bagnaia and Miller ahead of his final lap – with Bagnaia recording a 1m31.065s to become the lap record holder.

Quartararo then immediately slid off at Turn 1, resigning himself to third place – with Pramac duo Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco making it four Ducatis in the top five.

Marc Marquez, who was resigned to contesting Q1 after a fall in FP3, narrowly made it through the first segment and followed Miller to record a solid banker lap on the opening run of the pole shoot-out.

Yet having picked Bagnaia as his reference the second time by, Marquez crashed at Turn 9 while trying to follow the Desmosedici, and ended up seventh in the session, one place behind fellow Honda rider Pol Espargaro.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) crashed while following Bagnaia but was still a couple of tenth up on new squadmate Maverick Vinales, with the pair split by Suzuki’s Alex Rins.

The other Suzuki, that of reigning champion Joan Mir, had a troubled session and wound up 11th.

Avintia Ducati rookie Enea Bastianini, who had topped Q1 but then fell on the in-lap, completed the Q2 order, but did have a time good enough for 10th deleted for track limits.

LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami was quickest of those eliminated in Q1, having tumbled at the Turn 9 right-hander when on course to post a Q2-worthy time.

KTM’s Brad Binder fell just moments prior, while chasing a trio of Hondas – with wildcard Stefan Bradl towing along Marquez and young brother Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) – through Turn 2. Despite this, he was the quickest of the four KTMs in 17th, with he and Nakagami split by Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro, VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini and new factory Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli.

Valentino Rossi, who already had a crash earlier on Saturday in practice, had his Yamaha slip away from under him while tipping into the fast Turn 15 left-hander.

Rossi ultimately returned before the chequered flag, but could only outpace one rider – his new Petronas Yamaha team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, 0.131s off Rossi and 1.222s off Q1 pace-setter Bastianini in the first qualifying of his MotoGP comeback.

Qualifying Results

Pos Name Team Bike Group 1 Group 2
1 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1m32.065s
2 Jack Miller Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1m31.314s
3 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1m31.367s
4 Jorge Martin Pramac Racing Ducati 1m31.663s
5 Johann Zarco Pramac Racing Ducati 1m31.836s
6 Pol Espargaró Repsol Honda Team Honda 1m31.923s
7 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 1m32.029s 1m31.935s
8 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1m31.397s
9 Alex Rins Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 1m32.017s
10 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1m32.121s
11 Joan Mir Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 1m32.426s
12 Enea Bastianini Avintia Esponsorama Racing Ducati 1m31.876s 1m32.461s
13 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 1m32.21s
14 Michele Pirro Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 1m32.287s
15 Luca Marini SKY VR46 Avintia Team Ducati 1m32.289s
16 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 1m32.296s
17 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1m32.427s
18 Stefan Bradl Repsol Honda Team Honda 1m32.439s
19 Alex Marquez LCR Honda Castrol Honda 1m32.476s
20 Iker Lecuona Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 1m32.481s
21 Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1m32.821s
22 Danilo Petrucci Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 1m32.891s
23 Valentino Rossi Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 1m32.967s
24 Andrea Dovizioso Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 1m33.098s
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