Aleix Espargaro took a dream home MotoGP pole in Catalan GP after announcing retirement, with Francesco Bagnaia in P2 and Brad Binder in P3.
Q1:
The first part in MotoGP qualifying in Catalan GP was close as Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez led the way after the first run from Gresini Ducati’s Marc Marquez by just the 0.025s margin, as Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was not far off in third.
The other Gresini of Alex Marquez slotted in fourth from the second Trackhouse of Miguel Oliveira. The second run saw riders up their pace tremendously where Fernandez and Oliveira made it Trackhouse 1-2 before getting dropped out of it.
It was VR46 Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio having the last laugh to top Q1 with a 1m38.208s lap on his final attempt to displace Fernandez after setting a record time. The two made it in the Q2 leaving the Marquez brothers just outside it.
A quick run on his final attempt meant it was A Marquez in 13th from M Marquez, as Oliveira was 15th from the second VR46 of Marco Bezzecchi. It was Quartararo in 17th from LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco, who had a late crash to end his session.
The other LCR of Takaaki Nakagami was 20th behind GASGAS Tech 3’s Augusto Fernandez, as the Honda trio of Joan Mir, Luca Marini and wildcard Stefan Bradl rounded out the 23 runners in 21st, 22nd and 23rd respectively.
Q2:
The second part in MotoGP qualifying in Catalan GP saw Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia lead the way with a 1m38.221s lap ahead of Tech 3’s Pedro Acosta, with Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin in third from Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and di Giannantonio in the Top 5.
The second run saw riders improving but it was hampered a bit after a double crash for Pramac riders with both Martin and Franco Morbidelli dropping the bike at the same corner in separate incidents – bringing out the yellow flag.
It hurt Bagnaia as Espargaro took control to set another lap record of 1m38.190s, securing a MotoGP pole in Catalan GP after having announced his retirement. Bagnaia had to settle for second finishing only 0.031s behind, with KTM’s Brad Binder slotting in third.
Acosta was fourth from di Giannantonio, as Martin was sixth despite his crash. Much like di Giannantonio, even Fernandez had a solid Q2 to be seventh coming off from Q1, as Yamaha’s Alex Rins was eighth ahead of KTM’s Jack Miller.
Morbidelli was 10th despite his fall as Ducati’s Enea Bastianini was 11th from an unhappy Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales in 12th.
Results: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1794303653114999067
UPDATE: Fernandez’s P3 lap was re-instated post qualifying which puts him in third dropping Binder to fourth, Acosta in fifth, di Gianantonio sixth and Martin in seventh.
