Marco Bezzecchi battled through pain to claim pole position for the MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix, beating Ducati rival Marc Marquez by just under a tenth of a second.
The factory Aprilia man was the only rider to break the 1m46s barrier in qualifying, setting two laps good enough for pole position despite still lacking full fitness after a nasty crash in July’s German Grand Prix.
Reigning world champion Marquez, who has won a record seven times at MotorLand Aragon in MotoGP, had to settle for second after making a mistake on his final lap, while his younger brother Alex Marquez qualified third.
As the 15-minute session began, Marc Marquez was immediately up to speed, setting a time of 1m45.136s to obliterate the circuit record that Bezzecchi had set in practice.
But lap times tumbled even further as the session continued, with Bezzecchi snatching the top spot just minutes later thanks to an incredible effort of 1m44.984s.
Alex Marquez also joined the fight soon after, going third-quickest on the Gresini to set up an intriguing battle ahead of the final qualifying runs.
Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
But as the field switched to a fresh set of tyres, Aprilia continued to maintain an advantage, leaving Ducati fighting for the rest of the spots on the front row.
Marc Marquez delivered a small improvement on his first flying lap to close the gap to Bezzecchi, but the latter posted a time of 1m44.962s to further extend his advantage at the front.
Marc Marquez was just 0.013s down on Bezzecchi on his final attempt, but a mistake heading into Turn 14 wrecked his lap, forcing him to head back to the pitlane.
As a result, Bezzecchi claimed his first pole position since May’s Italian Grand Prix, continuing the form he showed on his comeback from injuries at Silverstone earlier this month.
Marc Marquez wound up just 0.089s behind in second, with his Gresini-mounted brother another two tenths behind in third.
British GP winner Raul Fernandez qualified his Trackhouse Aprilia in fourth, beating his factory counterpart Jorge Martin, who rose to fifth at the end after failing to set a representative time on his first run.
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
KTM’s Pedro Acosta held on to sixth despite crashing at Turn 8 with just 90 seconds remaining in the session.
Further back, Fabio di Giannantonio qualified seventh for VR46, while factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia came through Q1 to take eighth on the grid.
Johann Zarco’s impressive comeback continued as he set the ninth-quickest time in qualifying, beating his LCR team-mate Diogo Moreira, who was forced to switch to his second bike after crashing his primary machine in Q1.
Moreira will be joined on the fourth row of the grid by Ducatis of Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini) and Franco Morbidelli (VR46).
Jack Miller was the only Yamaha rider to lap in the 1m46s bracket, finishing 13th after falling short of a Q2 berth by a tenth of a second.
He was followed by Brad Binder on the factory KTM, with Honda’s Joan Mir only managing 15th after haemorrhaging time in the final two seconds.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
Enea Bastianini wound up in 16th for Tech3, while the factory Yamahas of Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins qualified 17th and 19th respectively, separated by Honda’s Luca Marini.
Toprak Razgatlioglu’s qualifying struggles continued at Aragon, the Turk ending up a distant 21st on the grid, behind Maverick Vinales’ stand-in Pol Espargaro (Tech3). Lorenzo Savadori, subbing for Ai Ogura, propped up the field on the Trackhouse Aprilia.
MotoGPAragonGP – Qualifying results
Q1 results:
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– The Autosport.com Team
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