Barcelona is becoming an increasingly special weekend for Aleix Espargaro. Just two days after the announcement of his retirement at the end of the season, the Aprilia rider signed his first pole position of the season and did so by taking the record on what is truly his home track for him, given that he has grown up in Granollers, the town a few kilometers away.
The “Captain” confirmed that the RS-GP has the potential to probably be the bike to beat on the Catalan track, where last year he scored a beautiful one-two, but he had to work hard to come out on top in the duel with Pecco Bagnaia.
Right under the checkered flag, Aleix stopped the clock with a time of 1’38″190, jumping ahead of the reigning world champion by just 31 thousandths. And the Ducati rider was rather unlucky, because he saw a lap canceled which would have earned him pole position and record due to the yellow flags triggered by the double crash of Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli at turn 2.
Not bad anyway for the Piedmontese, who was the only one to manage to place a Desmosedici GP on the front row and seems to have what it takes to star in two races. In his wake, the performance of Raul Fernandez was amazing, who after passing through Q1 managed to bring his Trackhouse Aprilia to third position. Initially, the Spaniard was listed in seventh position, but was then given back a time that had been mistakenly deleted, which earned him his first front row presence in the premier class.
Both less than two tenths off the pole, we then find two KTMs opening the second row, with Brad Binder managing to get the better of rookie Pedro Acosta, who celebrates his 20th birthday today. A good, and handsome, Fabio Di Giannantonio deserves it. Not only is the Pertamina Enduro VR46 driver the only one to have managed to bring a GP23 into Q2, setting the best time in Q1, but he also put almost the entire GP24 contingent behind him, starting with “Martinator”, who he paid for his mistake in the second run with seventh place on the grid.
Things went even worse for Morbidelli and Enea Bastianini, 10th and 11th, with the latter having his best lap canceled due to a violation of track limits. The performance of Alex Rins, however, is notable, as he seems to have seen the light with the new aerodynamic package approved by Yamaha, given that he managed to get eighth, also ahead of Jack Miller’s other KTM. A result that is worth double if you consider that teammate Fabio Quartararo instead remained relegated to Q1.
Up until now, however, Maverick Vinales’ weekend has not taken off, in the shadow on a track that seems to smile on the Aprilia but not on its characteristics. The driver from Roses has never been among the fastest and in qualifying he made no exceptions, finishing 12th, almost eight tenths behind his teammate.
Marc Marquez’s difficult time in qualifying continues, because the eight-time world champion was unable to pass the Q1 trap this time either. Indeed, the Gresini Racing rider has even lost a position compared to the race two weeks ago in Le Mans, because in Catalonia he will start 14th on both occasions.
In fact, his brother Alex also got in front of him and did an extra lap with the second new tyre, beating him by just 6 thousandths. The two drivers of the Faenza team really tried everything, including slipstream games, but this time there was nothing they could do to get through. But their difficulties, added to those of Marco Bezzecchi, who is only 16th, do nothing but underline the feat that Di Giannantonio achieved by bringing his GP23 into Q2.
Between the #93 (who also crashed at turn 5 in FP2, proof of a bad day) and the Pertamina Enduro VR46 rider there is also room for Miguel Oliveira, who in turn continues his not particularly brilliant moment, because the Portuguese is the only Aprilia rider not to have made it into Q2 with his Trackhouse Racing RS-GP.
Instead, you have to go down to 17th place to find Quartararo, who up to a certain point had given the feeling of being able to qualify, but then finished just under half a second from the best Q1 time set by Di Giannantonio. For the Yamaha rider, therefore, the regret for having missed direct access to Q2 yesterday, wasting time to replace the chain, increases.
Once again the Hondas are in great difficulty, with the best of the RC213Vs occupying only 18th position with Johann Zarco, who also suffered a crash at the end. If you want to look at the glass half full, you can say that at least the progress made with the new aerodynamic package that the Frenchman has approved here seems confirmed, because the other four bikes are at the back of the group, also behind Augusto’s GasGas Tech3 Fernandez.
This time he is not last, but not far behind, Luca Marini. The HRC rider is in 22nd place, although it must be said that he made a time very similar to that of his teammate Joan Mir who precedes him. Behind the Italian there is only the wild card Stefan Bradl, who returned to the saddle today after being stopped yesterday afternoon by an intestinal virus.
Q2 ranking
Q1 ranking
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