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Autosport

Sport

MotoGP Qatar GP: Martin snatches pole, Marquez sixth for Ducati debut

Ducati MotoGP Aleix Espargaro Francesco Bagnaia Qatar Aprilia Pramac Brad Binder Jack Miller Marc Marquez

Pramac rider Martin posted a sensational 1m50.789s flying lap on his first run in Saturday’s afternoon qualifying session to take the spot by 0.083 seconds over the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro.

The Spanish rider, runner-up in the championship to Francesco Bagnaia last year, was on course to better his time on his final effort but his lap was cancelled due to yellow flags deployed in response to a crash for KTM’s Brad Binder.

Although Martin’s original time was two tenths quicker than what Bagnaia had managed in much more favourable conditions during last month’s pre-season test in Qatar, it appeared it wouldn't be good enough for pole position as the riders returned to the track for their second runs.

Indeed, Bagnaia himself was a tenth up on Martin’s time going into the final sector, but a mistake coming out of Turn 15 left him wide and cost him a significant chunk of time, even as his lap was counted towards qualifying.

That left Espargaro as the closest challenger to Martin, with Enea Bastianini on the other factory Ducati claiming the final spot on the front row with a time of 1m50.875s - just 0.003s slower than his Aprilia rival.

Binder was able to get himself up to fourth and ahead of Bagnaia before his late crash, with the latter unable to improve on his 1m50.928s effort in the final moments of qualifying.

Competing in his first race weekend on the Gresini Ducati, six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez put in a solid effort to end up sixth and the last of the riders to breach the 1m51s barrier in qualifying.

Last year’s Qatar GP winner Fabio Di Giannantonio was next up on the VR46 Ducati, as just 0.230s separated the top seven riders in Q2.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Tech3 GasGas rookie Pedro Acosta couldn’t replicate the pace he showed on Friday, but still finished a solid eighth in his first MotoGP qualifying, beating the Gresini Ducati of final practice pacesetter Alex Marquez.

He was followed by the second factory Aprilia of Maverick Vinales, KTM rider Jack Miller and Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez - the last two making their way through from the opening leg of qualifying.

LCR’s Johann Zarco was the first rider not to make it to the second part of the qualifying, the Frenchman missing the Q2 cut just one hundredth of a second to Miller as the top Honda runner.

He will head the fifth row of the grid, where he will be joined by Trackhouse Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira and VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi.

Fabio Quartararo could only manage the 15th fastest time in what was a frustrating session for Yamaha, with new team-mate Alex Rins ending up 20th after dragging his M1 back to the garage with what appeared to be a mechanical issue late on in Q1.

Factory Honda rider Joan Mir lost the front end of his RC213V at the final corner with a minute to go in Q1, leaving him 17th on the grid for the opening round of the season.

Team-mate Luca Marini, polesitter in Qatar last November on the VR46 Ducati, had an even more miserable outing as he ended up in 21st position, only beating the Pramac bike of a recovering Franco Morbidelli.

MotoGP Qatar GP qualifying results

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	6	1'50.789		174.818	347
2	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	6	+0.083 1'50.872	0.083	174.687	342
3	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	7	+0.086 1'50.875	0.003	174.683	345
4	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	5	+0.124 1'50.913	0.038	174.623	349
5	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	7	+0.139 1'50.928	0.015	174.599	343
6	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	6	+0.172 1'50.961	0.033	174.547	346
7	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	7	+0.230 1'51.019	0.058	174.456	346
8	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	7	+0.341 1'51.130	0.111	174.282	351
9	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	6	+0.477 1'51.266	0.136	174.069	342
10	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	6	+0.517 1'51.306	0.040	174.006	343
11	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	6	+0.551 1'51.340	0.034	173.953	348
12	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	4	+0.732 1'51.521	0.181	173.671	346
View full results

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	5	1'51.436		173.803	345
2	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	6	+0.090 1'51.526	0.090	173.663	347
3	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	6	+0.101 1'51.537	0.011	173.646	343
4	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88	Aprilia	6	+0.129 1'51.565	0.028	173.602	345
5	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	7	+0.428 1'51.864	0.299	173.138	345
6	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	6	+0.482 1'51.918	0.054	173.055	348
7	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	5	+0.590 1'52.026	0.108	172.888	345
8	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	6	+0.768 1'52.204	0.178	172.614	347
9	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	7	+0.792 1'52.228	0.024	172.577	345
10	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	4	+0.891 1'52.327	0.099	172.425	345
11	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	6	+1.516 1'52.952	0.625	171.471	343
12	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	6	+1.544 1'52.980	0.028	171.428	343
View full results