In preparation for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, Jorge Martin, the current leader of the MotoGP championship, secured the pole position. This achievement became even more significant as Marc Marquez, a strong competitor, crashed during his lap that had the potential to beat Martin’s time. Marquez initially set a respectable time while following Pedro Acosta, but found himself in a disadvantageous position on his second attempt. However, he made a daring move to overtake Miguel Oliveira and tried to chase Franco Morbidelli to have a reference for the rest of the lap. Unfortunately, Marquez crashed at Scarperia, ending his chances of securing the pole position. Martin’s initial lap time of 1m44.504s was enough to secure the pole position, despite not improving on his second attempt.
Pecco Bagnaia, the reigning champion, also failed to improve on his second attempt and will start the race in fifth place due to a three-position grid penalty for obstructing Alex Marquez during Friday’s session. However, Bagnaia will still start second in the sprint race, as the penalty only applies to the full-length race. Maverick Vinales, riding for Aprilia, secured the third best time by closely following Bagnaia on his first attempt. Although he threatened to improve his time towards the end, he ended up settling for a slightly slower time that would still place him on the front row.
Marc Marquez, despite his crash, will start the Italian Grand Prix in third place, behind Martin and Vinales, and ahead of Bagnaia. Enea Bastianini, Bagnaia’s teammate, secured fifth place, while Franco Morbidelli, who had already broken the lap record in Q1, finished sixth. Pedro Acosta, the only KTM/Gas Gas RC16 rider in Q2, finished seventh. Young Marquez and Aleix Espargaro from Aprilia will complete the third row.
Alex Rins, leading the Yamaha team, secured the tenth position, followed by Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez from Trackhouse Aprilia. Fernandez would have been on the second row if he had matched his performance in Q1. A crash by guest rider Pol Espargaro caused yellow flags, affecting Fabio Di Giannantonio’s chances of advancing to Q2. Di Giannantonio finished 14th on the grid.
Fabio Quartararo, riding the second Yamaha, will start in 15th place, narrowly missing out on a spot in Q2 despite Yamaha’s improved performance and his own strong race pace. Marco Bezzecchi, Quartararo’s teammate in the VR46 team, finished 16th, followed by Joan Mir as the top Honda rider. Mir received a timely slipstream from Quartararo, ending Johann Zarco’s streak as the top Honda rider since Zarco’s arrival.
Jack Miller had a disappointing performance, finishing 19th on the second official KTM. He was closely followed by Augusto Fernandez from Tech3 Gas Gas and guest rider Espargaro, despite the latter’s crash.
