Qualifying report

MotoGP Portuguese GP: Bezzecchi takes pole ahead of Acosta

The Aprilia rider was the class of the field in qualifying for the Portuguese GP at Portimao

Marco Bezzecchi returned to MotoGP form by claiming pole position for Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao.

Following a tough outing at the Malaysian Grand Prix, the Aprilia rider was able to recapture his customary late-season speed in Portugal, where he will share the front row with KTM’s Pedro Acosta and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

Rain ahead of the Free Practice 1 session complicated preparation for Q1, as the circuit was damp-but-drying throughout the untimed session. It wasn’t entirely dry for the start of Q1 either, with the scary final corner particularly damp, making early runs of limited interest. At that point, times were still a couple of seconds off the best dry laps seen on Friday.

Not among those competing for the final two spots in Q2 was Raul Fernandez, who decided to sit out the rest of the Portimao weekend. The Spaniard had significant discomfort in his left shoulder following a heavy fall on Friday, and chose to focus on being fit for next weekend’s finale in his home country.

The quest to be last across the line on the drying circuit began with around four minutes to go in the session, when the riders began to head out of the pits for final runs. In the end, though, timing did not prove to be that critical as the two quickest riders set their fastest times on the first of their two flyers.

At the end of the scramble, it was two Yamaha riders who emerged on top. Factory rider Fabio Quartararo led the way with a 1m38.661s, a time close enough to dry pace to confirm that damp would not be a factor by the end of Q2. Joining him in that session would be Pramac rider Jack Miller.

Jack Miller, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Q2 kicked off with Alex Marquez setting the early benchmark, a 1m38.098s that was a mere fraction off what he had achieved on a fully dry circuit on Friday. Bezzecchi and Acosta were, however, each within a tenth of him as the bikes all headed back to the pits to grab their last set of softs.

Bezzecchi then struck early in the decisive final runs, his lap of 1m37.556s proving enough to withstand Acosta’s best subsequent efforts.

Marquez, the man who had been fastest on Friday, was also unable to threaten Bezzecchi after the Gresini Ducati rider crashed at Turn 3 whilst attempting to improve. He had to watch from the sidelines as others did just that, with Francesco Bagnaia getting a reasonable lap together at the death to push him down to fifth position.

Completing the second row will be Honda’s Johann Zarco, who thus continued the good form shown on Friday.

Another Honda will line up on the inside of row three, in the form of factory man Joan Mir. He will have Miller and VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio for company.

Pol Espargaro (Tech3 KTM), Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) completed the Q2 leaderboard and thus make up row four.

Q2

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	8	1'37.556		172.848
2	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	8	+0.150 1'37.706	0.150	172.583
3	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	8	+0.304 1'37.860	0.154	172.311
4	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	8	+0.379 1'37.935	0.075	172.179
5	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	6	+0.431 1'37.987	0.052	172.088
6	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	8	+0.503 1'38.059	0.072	171.961
7	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	8	+0.621 1'38.177	0.118	171.755
8	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	8	+0.661 1'38.217	0.040	171.685
9	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	8	+0.869 1'38.425	0.208	171.322
10	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44	KTM	7	+0.893 1'38.449	0.024	171.280
11	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	8	+0.936 1'38.492	0.043	171.205
12	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	9	+0.969 1'38.525	0.033	171.148
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