Marc Marquez snatches MotoGP pole in Portuguese GP from Francesco Bagnaia, as Jorge Martin was third.

Q1:

The first part in MotoGP qualifying in Portuguese GP saw Honda’s Marc Marquez led the way with a 1m37.675s lap from RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira in the early stages. Marquez’s teammate Joan Mir steadied himself just behind but didn’t threaten him.

Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez joined the game for a place in Q2 and displaced Oliveira from second on his last attempt. But the Portuguese came back on him to retake second and make it in Q2, with elder brother not doing a second run after a solid first lap.

The younger Marquez had to settle with 13th for the MotoGP sprint race with Mir in 14th from KTM’s Brad Binder, who rode through neck issues to be in the Top 15. LCR Honda’s Alex Rins was 16th from Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami.

With his teammate Pol Espargaro out of the weekend, Tech3 GASGAS’ Augusto Fernandez was 19th from RNF’s Raul Fernandez as Gresini’s Fabio di Giannantonio rounded the 21 runners of the 22 that started the weekend.

Q2:

The second part in MotoGP qualifying in Portuguese GP saw an early off for Aprilia’s Aleix Esparagro which disrupted couple of riders, even though he managed to get up and continue. It didn’t deter KTM’s Jack Miller who set early pace with a 1m37.549s.

Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin slotted in second from Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, as VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo rounded out the Top 5. The second run saw a fall for Miller on his outlap but he managed to continue on.

In the meantime, Bagnaia pumped in a 1m37.290s lap to go fastest and Martin couldn’t match him to be only second. There was late push from multiple riders and Marquez eventually took MotoGP pole away from Bagnaia with a 1m37.226s lap.

It was a new lap record as a help from Ducati’s Enea Bastianini eventually got pole away from Bagnaia who ended up by 0.064s lap. Martin was third from Oliveira who put in one good lap to push Miller to fifth, who didn’t improve after a fall.

Bastianini was sixth from Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, Marini, Pramac’s Johann Zarco, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and Aprilia’s Espargaro in the Top 12.

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