Pecco Bagnaia had arrived in Spain with a battered shoulder to face Jerez, one of his rival Quartararo’s favorite tracks. In 15 minutes, the fundamental ones of qualifying, he crushed all doubts. And the opponents. The clock was 1’36 ”170, four tenths better than the previous circuit record: a masterpiece. «I don’t think we can do better than this in the last sector of the track – smiled Pecco after the pole positon – We are finally starting to reap the benefits of our work: I am euphoric».
If Quartararo had managed to keep up with Bagnaia in practice, there was nothing he could do on the flying lap. At the finish he was able to settle for 2nd place almost half a second behind his rival. «There was no challenge for pole position, I don’t know how he did that lap – Fabio admitted-. I have a good pace for the race, however, we’ll see what happens tomorrow.
In the front row, tomorrow, there will also be an Aprilia, that of Aleix Espargaró, which continues with its magical moment. Jack Miller, on the other Ducati of the official team, will instead open the second row in front of a Marc Marquez who first used Bagnaia’s trail and then Quartararo’s, but was unable to imitate them. Sixth place was the prerogative of Zarco, with Nakagami behind him. Excellent eighth place for rookie Marco Bezzecchi, who had to pass from Q1 on the Ducati of Valentino Rossi’s team. In the decisive round he got the better of a trio of riders who shared the same fate, that of a crash. Mir, Martin and Bastianini will start 9th, 10th and 11th respectively, with Enea making a mistake in his fastest lap. Twelfth time for the other Aprilia, the one driven by Maverick Viñales.
Scrolling through the ranking, we find Franco Morbidelli only 16th ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio. Bad day also for Luca Marini and Andrea Dovizioso, 19th and 23rd. Behind Andrea is Lorenzo Savadori, the Aprilia test rider.