The jewel in the crown of the MotoGP season has delivered us a tantalising qualifying session, building the excitement ahead of the two races this weekend.
Championship leader and home hero, Pecco Baganai has set the first ever 1:44 lap at Mugello to take pole in the Tuscan hills. He tackled the pressure of being an Italian rider, on an Italian bike, at an Italian track in spectacular style to the delight of the grandstands.
He will be joined on the front row by both Marc and Alex Marquez, in 2nd and 3rd respectively. This is the first time the brothers have been in parc ferme together.
It was a truly difficult day for Fabio Quatararo who wasn’t able to get out of Q1 and will line up in 15th for the sprint and main races.
Qualifying 1
There were some big names in the first qualifying session, including both Monster Yamaha riders, Fabi Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli, Jack Miller, Alex Marquez, Maverick Vinales and rookie-on-the-rise, Augusto Fernandez.
In the early stages of the session, it was Alex Marquez who set the first fastest lap – so fast, he was just shy of the overall lap record. Slotting in behind him, in the second promotion spot, was Morbidelli.
As normal, the riders made their way back to the garages to change tires before their second run. Vinales first improved up in to the promotion spots, followed by Miller who leap-frogged him to second.
This pushed Morbidelli down to 4th, who stayed one place ahead of teammate Quartararo who was having a day to forget.
As the checkered flag fell for Q1, it was Alex Marquez (1:45.231) and Jack Miller (1:45.559, +0.328) who progressed to the next session for their shot at pole.
Qualifying 2
As rain threatened to add some drama to qualifying, every rider was quickly out on track and eager to set themselves a banker lap.
With Valentino Rossi watching from the sidelines, his VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi set the first flying lap with a 1:45.372. Marc Marquez and Jack Miller were close on his tail, taking 2nd and 3rd respectively.
With 11 minutes left on the clock, and without having yet set a lap time, Enea Bastianini crashed at turn 11 to give himself a huge amount of hard work on his return to MotoGP after recovering from an injury.
Jorge Martin then takes provisional pole away from Bezzecchi just before the riders came back to the garages for a tire change.
Instead of waiting to rejoin the track with everyone else, Pecco Bagnaia came out early to enjoy a complete empty track. However, he was soon joined by Marc Marquez and Bagnaia didn’t hide his frustrations at this, waving to the Spaniard and angrily gesturing to him.
Despite being forced to tow the Spaniard round the track, Bagnaia’s pace was blistering and he crossed the line to set the first ever 1:44 lap at Mugello, smashing the previous lap record. Marc Marquez, however, had to settle for 2nd as he was 0.078s behind the reigning championship
Luca Marini had his previously-cancelled lap time reinstated after the session, gifting 4th place back to him. Aleix Espargaro faced opposite luck – he looked set for a front row start but as the other riders set flying laps, he was eventually shuffled down to 8th.
Full Starting Grid
| 1st | Pecco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | Marc Marquez | Repsol Honda |
| 3rd | Alex Marquez | Gresini |
| 4th | Luca Marini | Mooney VR46 |
| 5th | Jack Miller | Red Bull KTM |
| 6th | Jorge Martin | Prima Pramac |
| 7th | Marco Bezzzecchi | Mooney VR46 |
| 8th | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia |
| 9th | Johann Zarco | Prima Pramac |
| 10th | Alex Rins | LCR Honda |
| 11th | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM |
| 12th | Enea Bastianini | Ducati Lenovo |
| 13th | Maverick Vinales | Aprilia |
| 14th | Franco Morbidelli | Monster Yamaha |
| 15th | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Yamaha |
| 16th | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda |
| 17th | Michele Pirro | Aruba.it |
| 18th | Miguel Oliveira | CryptoDATA RNF |
| 19th | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Gresini |
| 20th | Raul Fernandez | CryptoDATA RNF |
| 21st | Augusto Fernandez | GASGAS Tech3 |
| 22nd | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia |
| 23rd | Jonas Folger | GASGAS Tech3 |
Feature Image Credit: MotoGP