A few pale rays of sun broke through the clouds on the Jerez track just when the MotoGP riders were about to go on track for Q3, making the hunt for pole position at the Spanish Grand Prix particularly treacherous, with the asphalt gradually disappearing drying from time to time after the rain that had fallen all morning.
Ideal conditions to go and write a small page of history, because all the sensitivity of Marc Marquez came to the fore, allowing the eight-time world champion to go on to conquer his first position on a Ducati.
The Gresini Racing rider had been very fast since this morning's free practice session, demonstrating a great feeling with his GP23. With his 1'46″773 he was the only one capable of going below 1'47″, thus signing his 65th pole position in the premier class and the 93rd overall in his career. A result that he had missed since the Portimao race in 2023 (over a year ago) and which almost closes a circle, arriving precisely in Jerez, where his ordeal began four years ago.
The wet conditions also gave Marco Bezzecchi a chance to shine again, who tried right up until the end to challenge Marquez for pole, before ending up wide in the gravel of an escape route. Not bad for the rider of the Pertamina Enduro VR46, who only gave up by 271 thousandths, confirming a great feeling in the wet and finding a front row again after ten GPs of abstinence.
There will only be Ducatis on the front line of the grid, because in third position is the world championship leader Jorge Martin (for him there was a thrill in FP2 when the visor of his helmet came off). But the Reds made an impressive difference, achieving a result but achieved it first: in fact there are a total of eight in the top nine positions, with Brad Binder the only “intruder”. The KTM rider took advantage of the knowledge of the conditions acquired during Q1 to move into fourth position, but almost a second off pole.
If you look at the Ducati army, however, there is another fact to underline: if you remove Martin, in the wet the GP23s especially stood out, because completing the second row are those of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez . The GP24s will instead form the fourth, with the reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia only seventh ahead of Franco Morbidelli, who entered Q2 with the best time in Q1, and Enea Bastianini.
Too bad for Pedro Acosta, who seemed to have the weapons to try to get into the fight for pole position, but he overdid it at turn 13 and ended up with wheels in the air. The GasGas Tech3 rookie, therefore, will line up in tenth position, ahead of the two Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro, who once again confirmed that they don't like the wet conditions too much. A shame, because in the dry they had a good pace, especially Vinales.
He didn't manage to hit Q2, but he came really close to taking Honda there and so perhaps he deserves a good Johann Zarco, even if he was the first of those excluded at the end of Q1. The Team LCR rider was out by just 153 thousandths and will field his RC213V in 13th position.
The Frenchman will open a fifth row which is completed with two great wet specialists who therefore in a certain sense instead disappointed: we are talking about Miguel Oliveira, 14th with the Aprilia of Trackhouse Racing, but above all about Jack Miller, who will only start 15th with his KTM despite being someone who usually goes wild in these conditions.
Dani Pedrosa's return as a wild card wasn't as brilliant as last year either. Despite the two ahead of him, the Spanish veteran has never loved wet asphalt too much and it showed, because he finished 16th with his KTM. In the sixth row with him there will be the two Fernandezes, with Raul's Aprilia preceding Augusto's GasGas Tech3.
If at Honda we want to look at the glass half full, it may be positive that Stefan Bradl's laboratory RC213V has placed itself behind three others. The German test driver is in fact 19th, just ahead of Joan Mir. Luca Marini did poorly, usually going well in the wet, but with the Japanese bike he struggled even in these conditions and did no better than 22nd place, also behind Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori.
The Yamahas' qualifying was disastrous to say the least, because they had to go all the way down to 23rd position to find Fabio Quartararo, with the Frenchman having a gap of over 2″ from the best time in Q1. Teammate Alex Rins was then 25th and lastly, also behind Takaaki Nakagami's Honda LCR.
Q2 ranking
Q1 ranking
#MotoGP #Marquez39s #pole #Ducati #wet #Jerez
