Martin responds to Bagnaia as Marc Marquez crashes

Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) has secured his 16^th MotoGP™ pole position at the Gran Premio d’Italia Brembo – adding another lap record to his name. Martin pulled off an impressive lap early on which would be good enough to allow 'The Martinator' to steal pole position. However, that does not mean he wasn’t matched with Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) finishing a mere 0.043s behind and will start the Tissot Sprint from second but will have a three-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix - starting from fifth on Sunday. Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Viñales rounds out the top three after a great qualifying for Aprilia at Mugello.

Lap records are broken in Q1 and Q2

Riders were already breaking the lap record in Q1, with Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) becoming the first rider to break the lap record and secure a spot in Q2 alongside the ever-impressive Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing). However, once Q2 got underway there were a handful of riders looking to follow each other for a reference point for the opening flying laps. But soon all attention turned to the lap times that were on the board from Martin who was at the top of the pile - breaking lap record on his first flying lap.

In the closing minutes, there were red sectors everywhere until Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) crashed at Scarperia in the three minutes of the session. However, in the last minute of the session, Viñales and Bastianini would try to dethrone Martin, but it would come to no avail – allowing Martin to secure pole position at the Italian GP.

Further back a competitive grid awaits

Further back in fourth position is Marc Marquez who has qualified fourth and will be promoted to the front row on Sunday. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) has qualified in fifth – just 0.376s away from Martin’s benchmark. Behind the #23 after fighting through Q1 was Morbidelli, who put in yet another sensational lap to secure him a spot on the front two rows - starting from sixth.

Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) heads the third row of the grid after running through the gravel on his last flying lap. Acosta has shown some great potential this weekend and will be one to watch during the race, where he will start alongside Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) in eighth position. But they will have tough competition as Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro will start from ninth, rounding out the third row.

Meanwhile, some big names will have work to do on Saturday and Sunday including Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi, who will start from 14^th and 16^th. Joining the VR46 riders further down the order after they were unable to make it out of Q1 will be all three Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machines, with Brad Binder starting as the highest factory KTM in 13^th.

Saturday’s action is not over yet with all eyes now on the Tissot Sprint at 15:00 local time (UTC +2), so make sure you don’t miss any of the action on motogp.com!

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