VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio ended a four-year drought to claim pole position on MotoGP’s return to Brazil.
In a hectic qualifying session that saw various riders crash, including Di Giannantonio, he lapped the quickest with a 1.17.410s.
Despite crashing in final practice, Marco Bezzecchi recovered to make it through the first phase of qualifying and will start second on the grid.
Factory Ducati’s Marc Marquez claimed third place despite crashing out at Turn 4 on his second run.
Fabio Quartararo continued to maximise the best performance from a subpar Yamaha package to claim fourth spot.
Jorge Martin crashed out too, but in sector three, and qualified fifth ahead of Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura.
Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer outqualified team-mate Alex Marquez on his prompt return to action, finishing qualifying seventh and eighth, respectively.
Pedro Acosta starred on the KTM to qualify ninth despite an early crash at the dreaded Turn 4, which caught several riders out.
Johann Zarco qualified 10th as the top Honda rider, lapping quicker than Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
Pramac rider Toprak Razgatlioglu held his own in only his second qualifying session since moving from the WorldSBK paddock, qualifying 12th after automatically securing a Q2 spot from Friday’s practice.
Joan Mir narrowly missed out on the second phase of qualifying after being caught up by hometown hero Diogo Moreira’s error on his fastest run, meaning both Hondas start 13th and 14th, respectively.
Franco Morbidelli qualified 15th on the grid, finishing as the lowest-placed Ducati rider at one of his home races.
Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez secured a surprising 16th place on the RS-GP, closely followed by Alex Rins and Jack Miller, the latter of whom crashed out on their final run.
Luca Marini qualified 19th, while Maverick Vinales, Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini will occupy the final row of the grid, highlighting KTM’s struggles.
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