Aragon, Q2: Marc Marquez beaten, Marco Bezzecchi on pole with Aprilia!

At 11.15 am, the twelve riders set off in Q2 to determine the first four rows of the grid. In the first qualifying session, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Diogo Moreira (LCR-Honda) had taken the lead and secured their places in Q2. However, Moreira crashed and had only one bike left to use in Q2.

Marco Bezzecchi’s (Aprilia) fastest time from free practice was the quickest of the weekend going into qualifying – Bezzecchi clocked 1:45.455 minutes on Friday afternoon on the circuit, which is just under 5.1 kilometres long.

Marc Marquez (Ducati) was a sought-after benchmark. Behind the number 93 Ducati were Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda), Jorge Martin (Aprilia) and Pedro Acosta (KTM). Yet none of the riders could keep up with Marquez. He broke the lap record on his very first attempt: the clock stopped at 1:45.136 minutes.

Two minutes later, Marquez’s best time was already history. Marco Bezzecchi set the first sub-1:45 lap time at MotorLand Aragon. With his lap of 1:44.984, the Aprilia rider took the lead.

Márquez took a big risk on his second attempt, but was already running late into Turn 1. Although he didn’t hit the line perfectly, he lost hardly any time and was just as fast as in his first stint. Acosta used his future team-mate as a benchmark. Márquez improved his time, but was slower than Bezzecchi. A few seconds later, Bezzecchi stepped it up again and improved his time to 1:44.962 minutes.

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Two minutes before the clock ran out, Pedro Acosta caused yellow flags in Turn 8. After a very strong first sector, the Spaniard tried to push too hard and slid out on his front wheel in the right-hand bend, heading towards the gravel trap.

Marc Marquez wasn’t ready to admit defeat just yet. With 18 seconds remaining, the Spaniard crossed the line once more. After two sectors, he was just a few thousandths of a second off Bezzecchi’s time. In the third sector, Marquez pushed beyond the limit and veered off the line. The front wheel lost grip in Turn 14, but Marquez prevented a crash by bracing himself with his knee.

Aprilia celebrated securing pole position: Bezzecchi was the only rider to break the 1:45 mark, taking top spot on the grid ahead of the Marquez brothers. Marc Marquez was 0.089 seconds behind, whilst his brother Alex, in third place, was already 0.299 seconds adrift.

Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse-Aprilia) leads the second row in fourth place, sharing it with championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia) and Pedro Acosta (KTM). On the third row are Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati), Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda). Diogo Moreira (LCR-Honda), Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati) and Franco Morbidelli (VR46-Ducati) make up the fourth row.

The MotoGP Sprint starts on Saturday afternoon at 3.00 pm, whilst the Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday afternoon at 2.00 pm.