Bagnaia sizzles to Italy MotoGP pole

The Ducati Team’s Francesco Bagnaia has claimed pole position for the Italy MotoGP round despite towing Marc Marquez around the Mugello circuit after an on-track flare-up.

Bagnaia set a new All Time Lap Record of a 1:44.855s and will be joined on the front row by Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and, for the Sprint, Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez.

The latter, however, incurred a three-position grid penalty for the Grand Prix Race at Jerez and hence it will be his fellow Qualifying 1 graduate, Red Bull KTM’s Jack Miller, who will line up in third position on Sunday afternoon in Tuscany.

Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) was fastest after the opening flyers in Qualifying 2 on a 1:45.372s, ahead of Marc Marquez on a 1:45.406s.

Perhaps motivated by the threat of rain, they were among about half a dozen straight back into the pits to bring an end to their first runs, as Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) took over top spot on a 1:45.268s.

Bagnaia started his second run earlier than most but was visibly incensed when Marc Marquez exited the pits just ahead of him as he was trying to start another hot lap.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), who cannot use his rear brake this weekend due to pain from injuries sustained in an on-circuit cycling crash on Thursday, then jumped to third on a 1:45.380s.

Bezzecchi was back on top when he set a 1:45.290s as Bagnaia gave the older Marquez brother a reference, and a slipstream, around Mugello.

It looked like he might also give the Honda rider pole position but his 1:44.855s trumped Marquez’s 1:44.933s.

Miller had saved a soft Michelin rear tyres despite going through Q1 and therefore had two proper cracks at the second 15-minute his-out.

With the chequered flag flying, he moved up four positions to third on a 1:45.186s before Alex Marquez did likewise on a 1:45.007s.

Martin’s aforementioned time left him fifth, from Bezzecchi, Espargaro, Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati), Alex Rins (LCR Honda), and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), the latter of whom crashed on his second run.

Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati) finished up 11th and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Team), who mounted his second bike after a first-run crash, 12th.

Earlier, in Qualifying 1, Alex Marquez was quickest virtually all the way through, consolidating first place with a 1:45.231s on his final lap, while Miller took second with a 1:45.559s just before the chequered flag.

Quartararo was only fifth when it was unfurled and he could not improve his position despite improving his time to a 1:45.755s on that lap.

He will therefore start 15th, alongside Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) in 13th and Franco Morbidelli on the other Yamaha in 14th.

Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia) achieved 20th on the grid with a crash at Biondetti 1 during the session, while Augusto Fernandez (GasGas Tech3) managed to qualify 21st having shaken himself off after a monster crash at the same location during the Free Practice 3 session just prior.

The Sprint race follows this Saturday (local time).

Qualifying: Italian MotoGP

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time	Gap 1st/prev	Session
1	1	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	1:44.855		Q2
2	93	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1:44.933	0.078/0.078	Q2
3	73	Alex MARQUEZ	ESP	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	1:45.007	0.152/0.074	Q2
4	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:45.186	0.331/0.179	Q2
5	89	Jorge MARTIN	ESP	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:45.268	0.413/0.082	Q2
6	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	1:45.290	0.435/0.022	Q2
7	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	1:45.380	0.525/0.090	Q2
8	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Prima Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:45.627	0.772/0.247	Q2
9	42	Alex RINS	ESP	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	1:45.702	0.847/0.075	Q2
10	33	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:45.731	0.876/0.029	Q2
11	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	1:46.119	1.264/0.388	Q2
12	23	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	1:46.884	2.029/0.765	Q2
13	12	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	1:45.591	0.360	Q1
14	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:45.754	0.523/0.163	Q1
15	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:45.755	0.524/0.001	Q1
16	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	1:45.860	0.629/0.105	Q1
17	51	Michele PIRRO	ITA	Aruba.it Racing	Ducati	1:46.002	0.771/0.142	Q1
18	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team	Aprilia	1:46.003	0.772/0.001	Q1
19	49	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	1:46.170	0.939/0.167	Q1
20	25	Raul FERNANDEZ	ESP	CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team	Aprilia	1:46.347	1.116/0.177	Q1
21	37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	ESP	GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3	KTM	1:46.359	1.128/0.012	Q1
22	32	Lorenzo SAVADORI	ITA	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	1:47.244	2.013/0.885	Q1
23	94	Jonas FOLGER	GER	GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3	KTM	1:47.806	2.575/0.562	Q1