Vintage Marquez as pole and save send Jerez wild

Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) is back to his old ways, mastering tricky conditions to storm to a historic pole position at the Gran Premio Estrella Galicia 0,0 de España in a wild qualifying session. The #93 claimed a maiden pole position with Ducati and a 93^rd pole across all classes. Marc Marquez will be joined on the front row by Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing) who returns to the front row in Spain to the delight of team boss Valentino Rossi, who's on site this weekend, with Championship leader Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) improving on his second run to secure an important front-row start in third.

A crucial Q1 leads to a dramatic Q2

All talk at the start of Q1 was on the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team, with Jack Miller having a delayed start to the session due to a bike issue while teammate Brad Binder put in a fast lap early on. However, as the session progressed, Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) sprung a surprise to secure a spot in Q2 before Binder once again improved to join the Italian in the battle for pole. However, the start of Q2 was intense, with Binder setting a 1:47.807 to go quickest early on, with Marc Marquez having a massive moment on a fast lap.

The final five minutes were unpredictable, with track conditions constantly changing and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) crashing at the final corner of his first flying lap, losing out on provisional pole. Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing) then flew to the top before the honours were stolen by Marc Marquez, who stormed to pole position and then saved a crash at turn one.

Some big names further down the field

Behind a front row full of simmering, pointed rivalries comes Q1 graduate Binder, whose Saturday morning rescue mission was very much a success after he crashed in Practice and was left in Q1. Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing’s Fabio Di Giannantonio will start the Spanish GP from fifth position in the second row of the grid after showing pace on Saturday morning. Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) rounds off the second-row start and a great qualifying for Gresini.

Reigning Champion and 2023 Jerez winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) is down in seventh position, making it the first time since 2021 that the Italian hasn’t started on the front row in four consecutive races (then, it was Doha to Le Mans). Morbidelli qualified in eighth after another good session, the Q1 graduate pipping Ducati Lenovo Team’s Enea Bastianini, who rounds off an all-Ducati third row of the grid.

Meanwhile, Acosta will start down in 10th place after the rookie was unable to find the time to battle for pole after the crashing. Acosta will start ahead of Americas GP winner Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) and teammate Aleix Espargaro as both Aprilias look to move forward once the lights go out.

Next up is the Tissot Sprint at 15:00 local time (UTC +2), so make sure you tune in on motogp.com!

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