Acosta claims pole as Bezzecchi and Martin crash in qualifying

Pedro Acosta dominated qualifying for the Catalan Grand Prix to claim the second pole position of his MotoGP career, as Aprilia duo Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin suffered costly crashes.

Factory KTM rider Acosta led the entirety of the 15-minute session at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday, gradually improving his time to finish a quarter of a second up on his rivals. Franco Morbidelli qualified a surprise second on the VR46 Ducati, while 2025 Catalan GP winner Alex Marquez completed the front row.

At the start of Q2, Acosta obliterated his Friday benchmark on his first flying lap, setting a blistering time of 1m38.397s to lead VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio by almost four tenths of a second.

Minutes later, Marquez dislodged him from the top spot on the Gresini Ducati, but Acosta immediately fired back with a 1m38.118s to put two tenths between him and the rest of the field.

There was drama with five minutes remaining in the session when championship leader Bezzecchi crashed at Turn 2 and barrel rolled on the gravel trap, bringing out the yellow flags.

After the wrecked Aprilia was cleared, Acosta managed to deliver a late improvement, posting a time of 1m1m38.068s to cement his position at the front. Despite other riders finding time in the final moments, he held on to claim his first pole position since the 2024 Japanese GP.

With Valentino Rossi in the garage to support his VR46 team, Morbidelli starred in qualifying and qualified second, securing his first front row start since last year’s Aragon round.

Gresini Marquez also delivered a late improvement but could only qualify third, just ahead of the top Aprilia of Raul Fernandez. 

LCR rider Johann Zarco led Honda’s charge in fifth place, edging out di Giannantonio and the top Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo. Brad Binder was the only other KTM rider to get into Q2, apart from polesitter Acosta, qualifying eighth for Sunday’s race.

French GP winner Martin set a rapid time towards the end of Q1, but then damaged his primary bike on the cooldown lap at Turn 5, suffering his third crash of the weekend. Struggling for pace in the final part of qualifying, he could only manage ninth ahead of Honda’s Joan Mir.

Aprilia’s wretched day was compounded by a crash for Bezzecchi, who had only been sitting eighth on the timesheets when he hit the deck at Turn 2. The Italian was eventually shuffled down to 12th, behind the Pramac Yamaha of Mir.

In Q1, Francesco Bagnaia gave Morbidelli a slipstream that helped him get into the second leg of qualifying, but the factory Ducati rider was himself knocked out of the session and will line up 13th on the grid.

Enea Bastianini also missed the Q2 cut by less than a tenth off a second, having to roll off his flying lap due to yellow flags after Gresini rival Fermin Aldeguer crashed late at Turn 5. He will start the race from 14th on the grid.

Trackhouse sophomore Ai Ogura, who scored his maiden MotoGP podium at the French Grand Prix last weekend, languished in 18th place, while Pramac’s Toprak Razgatlioglu qualified 22nd and last after falling in Q1.

MotoGP Catalan GP – Qualifying results:

Q1 results:

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– The Autosport.com Team