Pol Espargaro (KTM), who retired early, after finishing 9th: “It was incredible!”

Pol Espargaro sensationally charged to 9th place in Friday afternoon’s MotoGP qualifying session at Misano Adriatico, thereby securing direct qualification for Q2 on Saturday. The 35-year-old KTM test rider was just 0.530 seconds off the fastest time set by Aprilia’s home favourite Marco Bezzecchi – and he was quicker than his team-mates Enea Bastianini (11th) and Brad Binder (15th).

As the Andorran-by-choice headed for the pits after his remarkable feat, he was met at the pit entrance by a beaming team boss Pit Beirer and the crew – one of his daughters and his wife Carlotta were also quickly on the scene, hugging the younger of the Espargaro brothers. “I can’t explain why or how that happened,” Pol remarked at first with a laugh.

Pol Espargaro: “Oh my God, save me!”

Espargaro also said: “It was mad. When I set my first time of 1:30.8, I thought, ‘You simply can’t go any faster here.’ I then told my crew chief Manuel that I couldn’t go any faster. It was mad – it felt so dangerous; I was in danger of crashing. Then I went back out onto the track with Pedro and suddenly Marc was right in front of Pedro too. I just thought to myself: ‘Behind Marc and Pedro – oh my God, save me!’ It turned out to be a brilliant experience, just a great feeling. When you’re riding behind the present and the future of the MotoGP World Championship, it’s an incredible feeling. As a MotoGP fan, it was a truly mind-blowing feeling – it was just unbelievable!”

But how was such a time possible for a MotoGP rider who’d retired early? Espargaro: “Pedro brakes very late, but he takes the lines so cleanly. So you just have to copy him – if you’ve got someone in front of you who’s making mistakes, then a good lap isn’t possible. At Aragon, I was behind Fabio Quartararo. With him, I knew he rides the lines very cleanly, doesn’t do anything crazy, accelerates smoothly and takes the corners well. And here, I managed to do the same behind Pedro.”

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12.09.2026 - 08:35