Emilia-Romagna 2024, Qualifying: Furusato takes first pole | FP

Very strange qualifying at Misano Adriatico for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, but which ultimately paid off Taiyo Furusato. As a result of two crashes that occurred in the final stages of Q2, with the yellow flags exposed just at the moment when most of the drivers were improving their times, the Japanese managed to be in the right place at the right time, avoiding the slowdowns and sealing his first pole position in the MotoGPmoreover with very small gaps between the drivers in the first four positions: just 67 thousandths of a second.

Q1: Rueda above all

The first qualifying session opened with a ‘double’ of Spanish drivers. More than the second fastest time, it is worth highlighting David Almansathe best performance of Jose Antonio Ruedaauthor of the fastest lap in 1:40.863 and with a lead of four tenths over his compatriot. Also qualifying for Q2 Taiyo Furusato and, in extremis, Scott Odgenwhich excludes Jacob Roulstone from the top-4. Nothing to do for the Italian drivers, with Riccardo Rossi 6th ahead of Carraro and fighting until the end to be able to get back into the top four to access Q2, with a mistake that however cancelled out any chance of him continuing the qualifications.

Q2: Fortune favors Furusato

The decisive phase for the assignment of the pole position saw the drivers very charged already in the first half of the session, with Alonso author of the best provisional time but with an advantage of only 8 thousandths on Ortolà and 47 on Furusato. However, just during the last minutes, when most of the drivers pushed on the gas to further improve their performance, here comes the double twist: Odgen’s Falls and, above all, dthe Alonsos. These episodes prompted the course marshals to expose the yellow flagsforcing almost all the riders to slow down. Almost all, in fact, except Furusato. The Japanese rider found himself in parts of the track where there were no flags, stopping the clock at 1:40.394 and taking home the first pole position of his career in the MotoGP.