He may not be 100% physically after his crash in Aragon, but judging by his performances, you wouldn’t think so. Pecco Bagnaia was nothing short of amazing in qualifying for the Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, taking both pole position and the track record at Misano, which always has a special place in his heart.
The Ducati rider put himself ahead of everyone from the very first attempt, demonstrating that he had a big margin over the competition especially in T3, the fastest section of the Romagna track that also includes the Curvone. The masterpiece, however, the reigning world champion did it at the start of the second run, in which he managed to place his 1’30″304, a new record for the track named after Marco Simoncelli.
A huge performance, echoed by those of Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi, who completed an all-Ducati front row, but above all an all-Italian front row. After finishing the first run without having even set a time, the Prima Pramac Racing rider showed off a great lap in the second, bringing himself to 285 thousandths from Pecco. And for him it is a great feat, because it was since the 2021 Spanish GP that he had not finished among the top three in qualifying.
The performance of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 rider is no less impressive, as he managed to patch up the difficulties he is having in adapting to the GP23 on his home track this season. In the end, he finished 305 thousandths behind Bagnaia and in the finale he even tried to steal second place from Morbidelli, but he lost a bit too much in T4, so in the end he had to console himself with a third place that for him is almost as good as a pole this year.
World championship leader Jorge Martin will have to settle for starting from the fourth spot, but woe betide anyone who claims victory, since it is the same one that brought him luck in Aragon. “Martinator” had closed the first run with a performance in line with that of Bagnaia, but then in the second he was unable to improve and therefore finds himself 341 thousandths behind Pecco. Alongside him on the second row will be the two KTMs of Pedro Acosta, very confident for this weekend with an RC16 that he believes is closer than ever this year to the Ducatis, and of Brad Binder, good at placing sixth after going through Q1.
As you may have noticed, we have not yet mentioned the great protagonist of last weekend at Motorland Aragon, namely Marc Marquez. The Gresini Racing rider had shown great pace in this morning’s free practice, but ruined his qualifying with a slide at turn 15 that prevented him from improving in the second run. He will therefore be called upon to make another great comeback from ninth place, because he will close the third row behind the other two Ducatis of his brother Alex, who went through Q1, and a somewhat overshadowed Enea Bastianini, who probably also paid for a technical problem he suffered in this morning’s FP2.
In qualifying Fabio Quartararo was unable to confirm his level as yesterday, but for him the tenth place on the grid is still one of the best results of the season. In terms of pace, his Yamaha does not seem to be in bad shape at all, so if he manages to get two good starts this time he could also give himself two races as a protagonist.
The only Aprilia to make it into Q2 was Maverick Vinales, who yesterday achieved direct qualification. However, it was not an easy qualifying for the rider from Roses, who finished 11th at over eight tenths. The picture of the first four rows is then completed by Jack Miller’s KTM, who however finds himself about half a second behind the other RC16s.
Aleix Espargaro paid a high price for his fall in yesterday’s afternoon session, which prevented him from going directly into Q2. The Aprilia rider was unable to make the cut in this morning’s Q1 either, finishing just under two tenths from the time needed to do so, and thus never really looking like he was in contention.
His brother Pol, on the other hand, ended up with his wheels in the air twice today. First he slipped at Turn 1 during the final free practice session, but his biggest mistake came in Q1, when a crash at Turn 8 relegated him to 15th on the grid with his laboratory KTM.
Fabio Di Giannantonio slipped in between the two brothers from Granollers, making him the only Ducati rider who failed to get into the first four rows. It should be remembered, however, that the Pertamina Enduro VR46 rider is still suffering from shoulder pain from the injury he suffered in Austria.
Opening the sixth row is the best of the Hondas, which is once again that of Johann Zarco. The Frenchman from the LCR team managed to make a big difference compared to the other RC213Vs, which close the lineup with Luca Marini, Takaaki Nakagami and test rider Stefan Bradl, and have taken significant gaps from him. Joan Mir is missing, stopped by gastroenteritis and unable to go on track.
Continuing to scroll down the standings, the sixth row is completed by the GasGas Tech3 of Augusto Fernandez and the Aprilia Trackhouse of Miguel Oliveira. His teammate Raul Fernandez instead opens a seventh row that he will share with the Yamaha of Alex Rins and with the aforementioned Marini.
Q2 Ranking
Q1 Ranking
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