Qualifying report

MotoGP San Marino GP: Bezzecchi beats Marquez for record-breaking pole

Bezzecchi and Marquez will once again line up on the front row of the grid following a thrilling qualifying at Misano

Marco Bezzecchi smashed the Misano circuit record to claim his second consecutive pole position of the 2026 MotoGP season at the San Marino Grand Prix.

The factory Aprilia rider posted an incredible time of 1m29.982s on his first run in qualifying, beating reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez to the top spot by almost two tenths of a second.

Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer came from Q1 to complete the front row, just pipping VR46 rider Fabio di Giannantonio to third.

As the 15-minute Q2 session began, Alex Marquez laid the early marker with a 1m30.733s, and he was on course to improve his time until he went down at Turn 8 while trail braking on his Gresini Ducati.

Minutes later, di Giannantonio snatched the top spot with a 1m30.504s aboard the VR46 Ducati, before Bezzecchi became the first rider in history to break the 90s barrier at Misano.

This gave the Aprilia rider an advantage of 0.467s over di Giannantonio after the first runs, with Marc Marquez a further half a tenth behind in third. Bezzecchi’s Ducati rivals delivered significant improvements on their second runs, but the Italian remained out of reach, claiming his fourth pole of 2026 by 0.198s.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

The closest anyone came to Bezzecchi was Ducati star Marquez, who improved to 1m30.180s on his final run to qualify second, just ahead of Aldeguer’s Gresini bike.

Di Giannantonio could only find half a tenth on his final lap and ended up fourth, while championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia) qualified a solid fifth after struggling in practice.

Luca Marini impressed aboard the factory Honda to edge out Pedro Acosta to sixth, while Franco Morbidelli was eighth-fastest for VR46.

Gresini’s Alex Marquez crashed twice in qualifying, his second fall at Turn 4 in the closing stages leaving him a distant ninth on the grid.

Further back, Trackhouse Raul Fernandez struggled to match the pace of his factory Aprilia counterparts after coming through Q1 and ended up 10th.

The top 12 was completed by Johann Zarco (LCR) and Pol Espargaro (Tech3), although the former remains under investigation for allegedly impeding Bezzecchi in qualifying.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo held a provisional Q2 spot for much of the opening qualifying, but was bumped out by Aldeguer in the closing stages, ending up 13th on the grid.

Francesco Bagnaia qualified a disappointing 14th for his home race, with the two-time MotoGP champion hitting his factory Ducati in frustration after making a mistake on his flying lap.

Diogo Moreira (LCR) and Joan Mir (Honda) finished 15th and 17th respectively, separated by the Tech3 KTM of Enea Bastianini.

They were followed by Jack Miller (Pramac) and Brad Binder (KTM), while Alex Rins (Yamaha) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac) once again propped up the 21-bike grid.

San Marino GP - Q2 results

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	8	1'29.982		169.153	299
2	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	8	+0.198 1'30.180	0.198	168.782	296
3	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	9	+0.368 1'30.350	0.170	168.464	296
4	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	7	+0.404 1'30.386	0.036	168.397	297
5	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89	Aprilia	9	+0.587 1'30.569	0.183	168.057	300
6	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	8	+0.627 1'30.609	0.040	167.983	299
7	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	8	+0.658 1'30.640	0.031	167.925	300
8	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	8	+0.661 1'30.643	0.003	167.920	299
9	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	6	+0.714 1'30.696	0.053	167.822	299
10	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	6	+0.871 1'30.853	0.157	167.532	295
11	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	7	+0.905 1'30.887	0.034	167.469	300
12	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44	KTM	7	+1.198 1'31.180	0.293	166.931	300
View full results

San Marino GP - Q1 results

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	7	1'30.535		168.120	295
2	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	9	+0.042 1'30.577	0.042	168.042	295
3	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	8	+0.264 1'30.799	0.222	167.631	294
4	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	8	+0.381 1'30.916	0.117	167.416	299
5	D. Moreira Team LCR	11	Honda	8	+0.431 1'30.966	0.050	167.324	299
6	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	8	+0.578 1'31.113	0.147	167.054	296
7	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	8	+0.614 1'31.149	0.036	166.988	300
8	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	8	+0.878 1'31.413	0.264	166.505	295
9	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	8	+1.017 1'31.552	0.139	166.253	298
10	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	8	+1.058 1'31.593	0.041	166.178	295
11	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7	Yamaha	6	+1.729 1'32.264	0.671	164.970	292
View full results