Bezzecchi scores first-ever MotoGP pole for Rossi’s team

Rookie Marco Bezzecchi secured a first-ever MotoGP pole for Valentino Rossi’s VR46 outfit in Thai Grand Prix qualifying at Buriram.

Bezzecchi, who was responsible for the VR46 team’s first MotoGP podium earlier this season, produced a new premier-class lap record of the Buriram venue to snatch pole from Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin.

His result means each of the four teams representing Ducati in MotoGP this season has taken at least one pole position in 2022.

The weekend’s streak of dry sessions continued into qualifying despite pre-event expectations that the action could be conditioned by rain on all three days.

Ducati’s main championship hope Francesco Bagnaia struggled on his first Q2 run that left him only ninth, but delivered a stunning final sector with three minutes to go to jump ahead of Martin for provisional pole.

Martin responded to go back to first place, yet was then usurped by another Rossi protege in Bezzecchi, this time for good, Bezzecchi posting a 1m29.671s to go 0.021s clear.

Yamaha’s championship leader Fabio Quartararo, who previously held the Buriram lap record in MotoGP, pulled out a big lap late on to move up to fourth place, and stands as the only non-Ducati rider in the top seven.

He will share row two with Martin’s Pramac team-mate Johann Zarco and Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini.

Dominant Motegi winner Jack Miller could place only seventh, the factory Ducati rider having had to cut his Q2 short after just one run.

The HUGE moment that cost @marcmarquez93 a potential front row! 🤯#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/Kb0vdRZgck

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 1, 2022

Honda’s Marc Marquez was left to rue a last-corner mistake in Bastianini’s tow that left him only eighth, ahead of Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati), Alex Rins (Suzuki) and KTM duo of Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder – with Oliveira having progressed from Q1 alongside Marquez.

Aprilia’s title hopeful Aleix Espargaro took the lead in Q1 coming into the final minutes, but was already in the pits by the time he was overhauled by Marquez and Oliveira.

It meant 13th on the grid, with Espargaro set to share row five with two Yamahas – works rider Franco Morbidelli, out in Q1 again despite an overall improved weekend and chosen by Marquez as the rider to follow in the first segment, and RNF’s Cal Crutchlow, who has managed to shrug off his ankle injury from Friday.

Raul Fernandez, switching to RNF and its newly-secured Aprilia bikes in 2023, secured 16th on the grid, which remarkably amounted to his best qualifying in MotoGP so far by as many as four places. This came despite the fact he has been suffering with a seriously upset stomach all throughout the weekend.

Espargaro’s Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales had a visibly miserable hour, repeatedly visiting various run-offs through the pre-qualifying FP4 session and then Q1, and ultimately ending up 17th for his worst grid position since Mugello.

Beyond Marquez, the Honda contingent had a thoroughly unimpressive outing, with its second-fastest rider Pol Espargaro six tenths off Marquez in Q1 – despite getting to follow brother Aleix – and only 19th on the grid.

Of the stand-ins, LCR Honda’s Tetsuta Nagashima was 22nd, 1.3s off Q1-topping pace, while Suzuki’s Joan Mir replacement Danilo Petrucci qualified 24th and last another three tenths down.

Qualifying Results