Martin sees off banged-up Ducati peers for Misano MotoGP pole

Jorge Martin absolutely dominated San Marino Grand Prix MotoGP qualifying at Misano, while injured championship leader Pecco Bagnaia managed a front row start despite being in “intense pain”.

Martin is the rider best-placed to benefit in title bid terms from Bagnaia being compromised by the after-effects of his violent Barcelona crash a week ago.

And Pramac Ducati rider Martin certainly looked unbeatable on Saturday morning, setting a record pace early in Q2 then obliterating his own effort with a 1m30.390s lap that put him six tenths of a second clear of the rest at that point.

It marked Martin’s 10th pole in the premier class, but only his first of the current season.

VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi – in discomfort of his own from the other first-lap Barcelona crash, in which he picked up a hand injury – eventually got that gap down to a still large 0.397s as he took second ahead of Bagnaia.

Aprilia followed up its Catalan GP double win by getting all four bikes into Q2. Aleix Espargaro was in Q1 following his nasty Friday crash, but was second behind RNF’s Miguel Oliveira in that session and then took sixth on the grid. Maverick Vinales was Aprilia’s top qualifier in fourth.

Veteran wildcard Dani Pedrosa starred again by leading KTM’s qualifying efforts in fifth. Its normal main hope Brad Binder was seventh, while his factory team-mate Jack Miller struggled to 18th.

A tow from old team-mate Pedrosa had got Marc Marquez into Q2, and he ended up following RNF’s Raul Fernandez to secure ninth on the grid.

That made Marquez by far the best Honda. Factory wildcard Stefan Bradl was a respectable 15th, but Taka Nakagami and Joan Mir were way down in 20th and 22nd, while Nakagami’s stand-in LCR team-mate Takumi Takahashi wasn’t even allowed to run in Q1 having not looked like hitting the 105% pace cut-off time at any point during his surprise MotoGP comeback weekend.

Yamaha’s struggles continued too, though Fabio Quartararo was within 0.038s of getting into Q2 as he took 13th.

While Martin flew for Pramac, his team-mate Johann Zarco’s poor weekend continued with a distant 16th place in qualifying.

Woops! 😱@polespargaro loses an aero bit after crashing out 💥#SanMarinoGP 🇸🇲 pic.twitter.com/EJeyoc2MNE

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 9, 2023

But Takahashi aside, it was Tech3 Gas Gas rider Pol Espargaro who had the worst morning – he starts both races last after crashing twice in Q1.

Qualifying Results