Quartararo outqualifies Bagnaia, Martin on MotoGP finale pole

Fabio Quartararo outpaced MotoGP title rival Pecco Bagnaia in the final qualifying session of the season at Valencia, as Jorge Martin claimed a third successive pole.

Quartararo and Bagnaia were fourth and 11th respectively after their first runs, before Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, running off-sequence with his Q2 run plan after advancing from Q1, relegated them one spot each.

But both improved, with Bagnaia – who only needs a top-14 finish on Sunday to guarantee the 2022 title – improving to eighth and Quartararo digging deep to set the fourth-fastest time.

There were questions surrounding his best lap, given Johann Zarco had triggered yellow flags in sector two with a Turn 6 crash not too long before Quartararo entered the sector. But while that crash ruined Bagnaia’s final attempt, Quartararo’s lap was deemed legal.

Martin’s third successive pole was by a margin of two tenths of a second over Honda’s Marc Marquez, who is battling illness this weekend but made the most of tucking in behind Martin on his final Q2 run.

KTM-bound Jack Miller salvaged a front-row start for his Ducati swansong despite crashing in Q2.

A run-off from @PeccoBagnaia as @JohannZarco1 crashes out a minute after @jackmilleraus 💥

It's getting tricky out here ⚠️#TheDecider pic.twitter.com/q0QCj8WQss

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 5, 2022

Vinales ultimately placed sixth, behind Quartararo and his fellow Q1 graduate Alex Rins, who will head Suzuki on the grid for its final race in MotoGP for now.

Brad Binder placed seventh for KTM, 0.010s ahead of Bagnaia, with Zarco, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini and Suzuki’s Joan Mir completing the Q2 classification – with first and 12th split by just 0.620s.

Enea Bastianini’s odds of beating Espargaro to third in the world championship took a hit as he threw his Gresini-run Ducati GP21 into the gravel at Turn 2, the Doohan corner, shortly after setting his fastest Q1 time.

That time proved only good enough for third in Q1 and 13th on the grid, with Bastianini joined on row five by Miguel Oliveira on his KTM farewell and Alex Marquez on his Honda farewell.

The younger Marquez curiously picked Oliveira to follow during Q1 and managed to shrug off his Honda RC213V expiring on him during his first run.

Off the back of his season-best showing at Sepang, Franco Morbidelli was again left stranded in Q1, placing as the second-best Yamaha but only 16th and only one place up on tester Cal Crutchlow.

LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, making his return after an absence necessitated by a second finger surgery borne out of his decision to ride injured at Motegi, qualified 21st but will start last courtesy of his three-place grid penalty for impeding Martin in practice.

💥 @polespargaro takes a tumble at T2 but he's back on his feet with less than 5 minutes to go ⏱️#TheDecider pic.twitter.com/9FzaVk4dyd

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 5, 2022

Moving up as a result of that penalty are Pol Espargaro, who had a horrid final qualifying with Honda that concluded with him crashing at the Doohan corner; Tech3 KTM’s Raul Fernandez, who required a hospital visit for check-ups after his FP3 crash and missed FP4, but was passed fit in time for qualifying, and RNF Yamaha’s Darryn Binder, who had his third crash of the weekend in FP4 (in which Fernandez’s team-mate Remy Gardner also crashed moments later).

Qualifying Results