MotoGP Qatar: Bezzecchi sets record to take pole position, Martin was furious

In Friday’s qualifying session, Fabio Di Giannantonio of Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Ducati Team set a record lap; with a time of 1:50.406, the Italian improved on Marc Marquez’s (Ducati) previous best by a hair’s breadth. The top 10, who went straight through to Qualifying 2, were separated by an unusually large gap of 1.003 seconds.

Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) were the best performers in Qualifying 1 to progress to Q2, whilst the stand-in riders Iker Lecuona (replacing Alex Marquez) and Jake Dixon (replacing Joan Mir) from the World Superbike Championship put in a surprising performance, managing to finish ahead of regular MotoGP riders.

The lap record was broken several times

In Qualifying 2, which also lasted 15 minutes, KTM works rider Brad Binder crashed on his first flying lap, whilst Marc Márquez, in desert conditions and an air temperature of 34 degrees Celsius, improved the lap record – which was only half a day old – with a time of 1:50.361. Remarkably, the world champion was more than half a second ahead of second-placed Pedro Acosta at that point.

Marc Marquez: Bester Ducati-Pilot auf Platz 2

Foto: Gold and Goose

Then Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) smashed all previous times with a lap of 1:50.065 minutes, becoming the first rider ever to dip below 1:49 on the Lusail Circuit. In the final four minutes, numerous riders managed to improve their times, with ‘Bez’ clocking 1:50.028 minutes.

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Lusail: Qualifying Moto3

MotoGP World Championship

07.11.2026 - 14:40

With this time, Bezzecchi secured his 14th MotoGP pole; alongside him on the front row for Saturday’s and Sunday’s races (both starting at 5 pm CET) will be the Ducati riders Marc Marquez and Di Giannantonio. Raul Fernandez (Aprilia), Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Ai Ogura (Aprilia) qualified for the second row. The third row is made up of Johann Zarco (Honda), Pedro Acosta (KTM) and Fermin Aldeguer (Ducati).

World Championship runner-up Jorge Martin might well have set a faster time than the rider in eleventh place, but the Spaniard felt he had been held up by Acosta and was understandably annoyed. The idea that he might score 30 points fewer than Marc Márquez across both races – which would see the Ducati star crowned world champion ahead of schedule – seems unlikely given his pace.

Jorge Martin (Aprilia) startet in Losail von Position 11

Foto: Gold and Goose