MotoGP Aragon GP: Bezzecchi beats Marquez to sensational pole

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

Q2

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	8	1'44.962		174.165
2	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	7	+0.089 1'45.051	0.089	174.018
3	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	8	+0.299 1'45.261	0.210	173.671
4	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	8	+0.413 1'45.375	0.114	173.483
5	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89		Aprilia	8	+0.474 1'45.436	0.061	173.382
6	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	5	+0.593 1'45.555	0.119	173.187
7	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	7	+0.653 1'45.615	0.060	173.089
8	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	5	+0.709 1'45.671	0.056	172.997
9	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	7	+0.821 1'45.783	0.112	172.814
10	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	7	+0.840 1'45.802	0.019	172.783
11	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54		Ducati	8	+0.930 1'45.892	0.090	172.636
12	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	7	+0.957 1'45.919	0.027	172.592
View full results

Q1 results:

Q1

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	7	1'45.820		172.753	343
2	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	5	+0.021 1'45.841	0.021	172.719	343
3	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	8	+0.139 1'45.959	0.118	172.527	340
4	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	8	+0.178 1'45.998	0.039	172.463	352
5	J. Mir Honda HRC	36		Honda	6	+0.206 1'46.026	0.028	172.418	346
6	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	7	+0.276 1'46.096	0.070	172.304	346
7	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	7	+0.311 1'46.131	0.035	172.247	338
8	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	7	+0.391 1'46.211	0.080	172.117	346
9	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	7	+0.502 1'46.322	0.111	171.938	343
10	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44		KTM	7	+0.564 1'46.384	0.062	171.837	348
11	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7		Yamaha	7	+0.729 1'46.549	0.165	171.571	341
12	L. Savadori Trackhouse Racing Team	32		Aprilia	6	+1.568 1'47.388	0.839	170.231	341
View full results