Jorge Martin was defeated in the final duel in Valencia with Pecco Bagnaia, but this does not seem to have affected his determination in the slightest. In fact, the Prima Pramac Racing rider started 2024 in a great way, scoring the first pole position of the MotoGP season in Qatar.
The Madrid native shattered the Lusail track record, even dropping to 1'50″789, thus lowering last year's pole position by around a second. And perhaps he could have done even better if he hadn't encountered a yellow flag at the last lap, which forced him to take off the gas when he had scored two “red helmets” in the first two sectors.
In the end “Martinator” prevailed by just 83 thousandths over Aleix Espargaro, who, just as in the tests, confirmed himself as the main alternative to the Ducatis with his Aprilia. The driver from Granollers is the only one to have kept the F1-style diffuser under the tail of the RS-GP among the standard bearers of the Noale company and this choice is paying dividends for him for now.
Completing the front row is Enea Bastianini, who in turn remained very close to Martin, closing at 86 thousandths of a second. “Beast” reiterated that he has already found an excellent feeling with the GP24, which seems to once again drive as well as he did with the GP22. However, it was not an ideal qualifying for the reigning champion Bagnaia, who made a mistake, running wide at the penultimate corner on his best lap and thus finishing fifth, albeit just 139 thousandths from pole. Among other things, his might seem like a track limit, but for this race there is a special regulation that punishes them less because by going wide you lose a lot of time in the areas painted red.
Brad Binder also slipped between the two Desmosedicis of the official team, setting an excellent fourth time with his KTM, despite a crash at turn 11 which occurred while he was trying to improve in the final. Among other things, it was his accident, from which he recovered without consequences, that cost Martin the last lap.
Marc Marquez's debut with Ducati was marred by a second row. The newcomer to Gresini Racing finished sixth fastest, less than two tenths from pole, but also took the prize for best among the riders aboard the “old” GP23s, ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio in seventh position and that of his brother Alex, ninth. For “Diggia”, however, this is a good confirmation of the potential shown at the end of 2023 in the first outing with the Pertamina VR46.
Then pay attention to the rookie Pedro Acosta, because the Moto2 world champion took very little to get to grips with the MotoGP and immediately managed to place his GasGas Tech3 KTM on the third row, signing an excellent eighth time at just 341 thousandths from Martin's pole. Just think that with the same bike he managed to do better than the much more experienced Jack Miller, who will start 11th.
The Australian is astride two other Aprilias, that of a nervous Maverick Vinales after a technical problem that slowed him down in the last free practice session, and that of Raul Fernandez, who gave the rookie Trackhouse Racing passage to Q2, but then in the final segment he didn't show his full potential due to a crash at turn 6.
The first news that the 2024 season has brought is that, despite the great efforts made over the winter, there will be no Japanese bikes in the first four rows, because none managed to make the cut for Q2. Johann Zarco came very close, returning to wear the colors of Team LCR, which he had already defended for a few races in 2019. The Frenchman, however, was beaten by just 11 thousandths of a second by Miller practically with time up and will therefore be forced to field his RC213V in 13th position.
Next to him will be Miguel Oliveira, who was unable to reach Q2 unlike his teammate, despite him having the RS-GP24 and Raul instead still being on the 2023 Aprilia. In the fifth row there is also room for Marco Bezzecchi who, after struggling quite a bit during the pre-championship, doesn't seem to have yet taken the measure of Pertamina Enduro's Desmosedici GP23.
You have to go down to the sixth row to find the best of the Yamahas, with Fabio Quartararo's 2024 certainly not starting as he would have hoped. “El Diablo” is aware that he needs time to bring the M1 back to competitiveness, but he certainly hoped to do better than the 16th time. It went worse for his teammate Alex Rins, who is 20th and was unable to make the last attempt due to a technical problem.
The two Hondas wearing HRC colors were also out, with Joan Mir suffering a crash at turn 16 which relegated him to 17th position. Newcomer Luca Marini, on the other hand, lost a lot of time due to a fall at turn 2 in the last free practice session and is only 21st. Not a great debut with the Japanese manufacturer for the Marche native, who precedes only Franco Morbidelli, still struggling with a Ducati that he didn't have the opportunity to discover in the winter tests due to a head injury suffered in training which forced him to stop several weeks.
Q2 ranking
Q1 ranking
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