Francesco Bagnaia took a crucial MotoGP pole in decider Solidarity GP, ahead of Aleix Espargaro and Marc Marquez.
Q1:
The first part in MotoGP qualifying in Solidarity GP at Barcelona saw early top run for Pramac Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli with a 1m39.367s lap ahead of Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez, with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo in third.
LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami slotted in fourth from the other Yamaha of Alex Rins. Things started to heat up in the final run as several riders put in good lap time. But there was a blip for KTM’s Jack Miller, who crashed out in his final outing with the team.
Morbidelli stayed on top with a 1m39.145s lap to make it in Q2 along with Quartararo, who managed to pip his rivals in second with a 1m39.404s lap. Honda’s Joan Mir was looking good until he made a mistake on his final attempt to be third on the road.
He will be 13th for the sprint and main race, ahead of the returning Miguel Oliveira in the Trackhouse machinery. Rins was 15th from Honda’s Luca Marini, as R Fernandez dropped to 17th from the KTM pair of Brad Binder and Miller.
Despite his fall, Miller maintained 19th ahead of Nakagami, GASGAS Tech 3’s Augusto Fernandez, VR46 Ducati’s – stand-in for Fabio di Giannantonio – Michele Pirro and Honda wildcard Stefan Bradl, to round out the 23 runners.
Q2:
The second part in MotoGP qualifying in Solidarity GP saw an early fall for Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez, who had to rush onto the second bike. While Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia was on his own, title rival Pramac’s Jorge Martin played his game.
He had Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro helping with a tow. It helped him to be third behind Bagnaia (1m38.835s) and Gresini’s Marc Marquez. Just outside the front row, Quartararo came through well in fourth from Q1, ahead of Tech 3’s Pedro Acosta.
All by himself, Bagnaia managed to seal the deal with a MotoGP pole in Solidarity GP with a 1m39.641s lap ahead of Espargaro, who missed the top spot by 0.055s. M Marquez was third, as title rival Martin only managed fourth in the end.
He had teammate Morbidelli in fifth with Acosta in sixth from Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales after his late attempt. It dropped Ducati’s Enea Bastianini to eighth from VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, Quartararo, A Marquez and LCR’s Johann Zarco in the Top 12.