MotoGP had qualifying minus two riders. Jorge Martin and Takaaki Nakagami both had major crashes and were out for the weekend. 8-time world Champ Marc Marquez and reigning champ Joan Mir were both stuck in Q1 and needed to advance to the second session.
At the end of the first runs, it was Marquez over Mir, with Alex Marquez in third, but over a tenth behind. The happy hour started though, and expectations were out the window. Mir, Marquez, Espargaró were all up on their previous best. It wasn’t enough though, and it was Marquez and Mir into Q2 rather predictably.
Then it was Q2, the top 12 go head to head for pole position. The early runs left Quartararo a mile ahead. Zarco was on a good lap but hit the deck, but Bagnaia put a good lap to go second. Unfortunately for the Italian, his lap time was canceled for a yellow flag infringement, as was Viñales’.
Happy hour then began. The all-out shootout for pole. Quartararo took the all-time lap record in a blistering lap, but Miller was fast. He couldn’t get pole though, but there was one flying lap to go. Now Marquez was flying, as was Quartararo again, and Miller and Bagnaia. Marquez briefly went third but Zarco went second after being on the deck. That didn’t last long though, as Bagnaia went stunningly pole. Fabio Quartararo was second, followed by Alex Rins.
Then, after the chequered flag, Bagnaia’s lap was deleted for a yellow flag infringement, meaning he would start 11th. It was Quartararo on pole then, followed by Rins and Zarco.
