1’29″919 is the new track record and, above all, it is the time that earned Jorge Martin pole position in the French Grand Prix. The Pramac Ducati team rider once again showed his muscles on the flying lap by making a exceptional magic thanks to a third sector unattainable for everyone.
The Spaniard’s time obtained in Q2 is excellent in all sectors, but it is in the third where he created the real difference compared to all the others. Yet another performance that demonstrates how confident Jorge is with his Ducati Desmosedici GP24 despite a fall 4 minutes from the end of qualifying at turn 4 after losing the front in an attempt to further lower the record that already belonged to him.
If Martin smiles, Francesco Bagnaia also showed that he has what it takes to play for something important this weekend. The two-time world champion, official Ducati rider, set the second time in qualifying, but he too suffered a fall which prevented him from making the final attempt to snatch pole from Martin, who had already fallen at that moment.
Arriving at the change of direction between turn 9 and turn 10, Bagnaia was intent on doing his fast lap but lost the front of his official Ducati, ending up on the ground. It is certain, however, that the two will battle in this afternoon’s Sprint, but they will have to deal with the first bike not built in Borgo Panigale. We are talking about Maverick Vinales’ Aprilia RS-GP.
The Spanish rider, author of a noteworthy start to the season, is the first and only non-Ducati rider in the top 5 in the standings, with a very competitive Aprilia on the flying lap which is yet another confirmation of how much good they are doing in Noale. Vinales, moreover, did not seem as fit on the flying lap as he is on the pace. So Ducati could have an important rival at least for Sprint.
The Top 5 is completed by two more Reds… not red. They are those of the Pertamina VR46 team of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi. The two Italians were the authors of a very different Q2. The Roman was able to occupy the top positions for almost the entire session, while Bezzecchi was good at taking advantage of the last attempt, with the checkered flag now exposed.
Aprilia confirmed its good feeling with Le Mans thanks to Aleix Espargaro’s sixth place, although the Granollers native crashed a few minutes before the end of the session. The best KTM belongs to Pedro Acosta with the seventh time ahead of the first Yamaha, that of Fabio Quartararo, and the second Ducati Pramac of Franco Morbidelli.
Enea Bastianini is very unfortunate. The rider from Romagna from the official Ducati team was first forced to abort his penultimate lap with new tires due to the yellow flag triggered by the fall of his teammate Bagnaia, then a technical problem occurred on the red number 23 just as Enea was busy preparing the last fast lap. So he will be forced to start tenth ahead of Jack Miller’s KTM (which crashed in turn 8 at the end of the session) and Miguel Oliveira’s Aprilia.
Strong disappointment however for Marc Marquez, sensationally eliminated in Q1 due to a series of situations in which he was the protagonist. The first was due to a front lock that forced him to make one of his miraculous saves. Mission accomplished, but a waste of time. In the next one, the last one available to him to try to secure qualification, he encountered a yellow flag caused by Yohan Zarco’s crash. Miguel Oliveira, who was right behind the Frenchman at the time, did not take the yellow flag and managed to oust Marc from the two places needed to move up to Q2.
Difficult qualifying for the Gresini team, which in addition to Marc Marquez, also saw Alex Marquez eliminated already in Q1, even stopping in 17th place. Between Marc and Alex there are Raul Fernandez with the second Trackhouse Racing Aprilia, Johan Zarco with the first Honda, the private one of the LCR team, and the second official Yamaha of Alex Rins.
Disastrous qualifying also for the official Hondas of Joan Mir, 18th, and Luca Marini, 21st. Takaaki Nakagami is 19th with the second Honda RC213V of the LCR team ahead of the KTM of Augusto Fernandez (Tech3). Sadly last was Brad Binder, who will face an uphill race weekend to say the least.
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