Francesco Bagnaia took a surprise MotoGP pole in Czech GP due to late dramas, ahead of Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo.
Q1:
It was sunny weather to start the first part in MotoGP qualifying in Czech GP at Brno, as VR46 Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio led the way with a 1m53.131s lap ahead of Tech 3 KTM’s Pol Espargaro in the Top 2, where Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez was just outside in third.
He led KTM’s Brad Binder and Pramac Yamaha’s Miguel Oliveira, with Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia only sixth after he made mistake on his second flying lap in the first run. He went early for the final set of laps, where Bagnaia jumped to the top with a 1m52.715s lap.
Di Giannantonio slotted in second but R Fernandez upped his pace to second – only 0.060s behind Bagnaia, to make it into Q2. Di Giannantonio had to be content with third to start 13th from Espargaro, as Yamaha’s Alex Rins was 15th from Honda’s Luca Marini.
Oliveira dropped to 17th from Gresini Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer, with Binder only 19th ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura and Yamaha wildcard Augusto Fernandez.
Q2:
It was slightly cloudy to start the second part in MotoGP qualifying in Czech GP. It was Ducati’s Marc Marquez leading the way with a 1m52.522s lap, which was only 0.093s quicker than Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo in second. Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi was third from KTM’s Pedro Acosta.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez was fifth, as Bagnaia aborted his first run and took the track when everyone waited in the pits. The Italian went for an out of sequence strategy. He went quickest for the time to beat. His luck worked for a brief moment due to yellow flag at Turn 1.
Bezzecchi went straight into the barrier via the gravel route. It hurt the riders who came through the yellow flag zone. The build-up to the final attempt saw riders jostling for track position, especially M Marquez, Bagnaia and A Marquez, which certainly irked the pack behind Bagnaia.
As M Marquez looked set to take pole, it took a dramatic turn after he crashed on his fast lap. It was the same corner where LCR’s Johann Zarco crashed moments ago. There was a fall for Pramac’s Jack Miller as well in the same moment, which was not broadcasted on TV.
In a shock, Bagnaia eventually held on to his fast lap to take MotoGP pole out of nowhere in Czech GP. M Marquez had to be content with second from Quartararo in the Top 3, as Bezzecchi retained fourth from Honda’s Joan Mir in the Top 5. R Fernandez was sixth after coming through from Q1.
Acosta was seventh from A Marquez, with Miller in 10th from Tech 3’s Enea Bastianini and the returning Jorge Martin on the Aprilia, in the Top 12.
Result: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1946508152490385546
