After a wet start in the morning, qualifying managed to get underway on dry tarmac and allowed premier class riders to take on the rodeo at full speed. Although Q2 started a bit rough for Ducati, with Jorge Martin immediately losing his status as one of the favourites in the gravel at turn seven, Pecco Bagnaia more than made up for it in the end, by setting a new all time lap record on his final flying lap. Alex Rins also enjoyed some time in the limelight, in provisional pole with one minute left of the session, and although he had to hand if back to the world champion at the chequered flag, the Honda man starts from the middle of the front row on one of his favourite playgrounds on the calendar. Even though Bagnaia spent a considerable amount of time shaking off pursuers, Luca Marini managed to follow his lead, quite literally, and secure the final place on the front row.
Alex Marquez was on pole-sitting pace after the first run, having posted an identical time to Bagnaia, but the duo got distracted trying to shake each other off in their next outing and Marquez came out on the losing end, with a late tumble at turn 15. That eventually cost him a front row start but the Gresini man kept close on row two, ahead of Q2 graduate Marco Bezzecchi and Aprilia veteran Aleix Espargaro. Fabio Quartararo had a tough session, at the bottom of the top 10 after the first outing, but fought back to claim seventh, sharing third row with Maverick Viñales and Q1 leader Johann Zarco.
Jack Miller had a pretty shocking 15 minutes of Q2, fitting in two crashes at turns 1 and 14 and having to settle for 10th, ahead of teammate Brad Binder. However, the most disappointed man of the day would have been Martin, who bookended his session with crashes at turns 7 and 2 and will have to start from the back of fourth row. Joan Mir had a good go at Q2 but came up two tenths short and settled for 13th on the grid, ahead of Franco Morbidelli and Miguel Oliveira.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
1 | 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 2:01.892 | ||
2 | 42 | Alex Rins | Honda | 2:02.052 | 0.160 | 0.160 |
3 | 10 | Luca Marini | Ducati | 2:02.181 | 0.289 | 0.129 |
4 | 73 | Alex Marquez | Ducati | 2:02.242 | 0.350 | 0.061 |
5 | 72 | Marco Bezzecchi | Ducati | 2:02.268 | 0.376 | 0.026 |
6 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 2:02.539 | 0.647 | 0.271 |
7 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 2:02.749 | 0.857 | 0.210 |
8 | 12 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia | 2:02.882 | 0.990 | 0.133 |
9 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Ducati | 2:03.062 | 1.170 | 0.180 |
10 | 43 | Jack Miller | KTM | 2:03.084 | 1.192 | 0.022 |
11 | 33 | Brad Binder | KTM | 2:03.107 | 1.215 | 0.023 |
12 | 89 | Jorge Martin | Ducati | 2:03.292 | 1.400 | 0.185 |
Q1 Results: | ||||||
Q2 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Ducati | 2:02.387 | ||
Q2 | 72 | Marco Bezzecchi | Ducati | 2:02.523 | 0.136 | 0.136 |
13 | 36 | Joan Mir | Honda | 2:02.743 | 0.356 | 0.220 |
14 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 2:02.950 | 0.563 | 0.207 |
15 | 88 | Miguel Oliveira | Aprilia | 2:03.065 | 0.678 | 0.115 |
16 | 49 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Ducati | 2:03.350 | 0.963 | 0.285 |
17 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 2:03.403 | 1.016 | 0.053 |
18 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 2:03.452 | 1.065 | 0.049 |
19 | 25 | Raul Fernandez | Aprilia | 2:03.527 | 1.140 | 0.075 |
20 | 37 | Augusto Fernandez | KTM | 2:03.798 | 1.411 | 0.271 |
21 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Honda | 2:03.907 | 1.520 | 0.109 |
22 | 94 | Jonas Folger | KTM | 2:07.597 | 5.210 | 3.690 |
Comments
I hope Jorge makes it…
I hope Jorge makes it through the season. Maybe someone close to him can talk him in to toning it down half a click.
Rins rocks! He’s getting in…
Rins rocks! He’s getting in tune with the bike and improving every week. Best of luck to him this weekend!