Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia set another stunning lap record at Misano as he recorded his second MotoGP pole position at the circuit in two weeks ahead of championship rival Jorge Martin.
Bagnaia’s final lap of 1:30.031s was enough to snatch pole position from Pramac’s Martin, who also broke the lap record earlier in the session.
It was Martin who set the early pace in the session – setting a new lap record of 1:30.245s on his first flier to head to the top of the timesheet.
In the final minutes in qualifying, it was clear that the battle for pole was to be between the two championship contenders – but it was Bagnaia who was able to pull out a stunning lap time of 1:30.031s to take pole, 0.214s clear of Martin in second.
Enea Bastianini took third in the session to make it an all GP24 front row as his time put him 0.533s off of teammate Bagnaia.
Brad Binder, who progressed through Q1, took fourth and was able to salvage what was looking to be a terrible weekend for Red Bull KTM, as he heads the second row ahead of rookie Pedro Acosta.
Marco Bezzecchi rounds out the second row in sixth, and will start ahead of Gresini’s Marc Marquez, who crashed after setting his first lap time and was unable to improve.
Maverick Vinales will start from eighth, ahead of former teammate Fabio Quartararo on the Yamaha, as Franco Morbidelli rounded out the top-10.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro qualified in 11th, ahead of Miguel Oliveira, as both riders finished Q2 a second adrift of Bagnaia’s pole time
VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio narrowly missed out on Q2 despite carrying an injury and will start 13th on the grid, ahead of Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez.
Luca Marini lead the Repsol Honda pair as he will start both races in 15th, ahead of Joan Mir in 16th.
Johann Zarco will start in 17th ahead of Augusto Fernandez, who crashed while trying to improve his lap time in Q1.
Jack Miller had a nightmare qualifying session, finishing down in 19th and will head the seventh row of the grid, where he will be joined by Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez, who crashed at Turn 1 following his first flying lap.
Despite taking part in the final practice session, Alex Rins didn’t take part in qualifying and the Yamaha rider will start last on the grid should he partake in the rest of the weekend.
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