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MotoGP Portuguese GP: Bastianini claims pole from Vinales, Marquez crashes

Having topped Friday’s running at the Algarve International Circuit, Bastianini carried that into Saturday to take a first pole since Austria 2022 with a 1m37.706s.

The five-time grand prix winner fended off a late charge from Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales to take pole by just 0.082 seconds, while Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin completed the front row.

Reigning world champion and current points leader Francesco Bagnaia will start fourth, while Gresini Ducati’s Marc Marquez was eighth after suffering a scary crash at the final corner early on.

The 2023 Portugal poleman lost the front on the way into the fast downhill right at Turn 15 at the start of the 15-minute Q2 session and bounced through the gravel.

Unscathed in the incident, Marquez was able to get back to his Gresini garage for new riding gear and his second bike, but struggled on his second run.

The #93, who was third at the end of Friday’s running, could only manage a 1m38.147s to qualify down in eighth in a session he was expected to be a pole threat.

Vinales set the early pace in Q2 with a 1m38.214s before Bagnaia moved to the top of the timesheets with a 1m37.942s on his factory Ducati with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Martin trailed him in second by 0.004s, but had that lap cancelled after exceeding track limits exiting the final corner on that lap.

After the first half of the session, only six riders had registered a lap time.

As the second runs began, Martin took over at the head of the pack with a 1m37.812s, but seconds later ceded pole to Bastianini with a 1m37.706s.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Vinales, who was the only Aprilia in Q2 after both Trackhouse riders Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez and the sister factory Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro failed to get out of Q1, set the timing screens alight on his last lap.

But he couldn’t quite convert that pace as the lap came to an end, with the Spaniard having to settle for second by 0.082s, with Martin a further 0.024s adrift.

Bagnaia heads row two from KTM’s Jack Miller and VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi, who has seemingly made a breakthrough on the GP23 he struggled on in Qatar.

Pedro Acosta came through Q1 to qualify seventh on his Tech3 GasGas ahead of Marc Marquez, while Fabio Quartararo was ninth on the leading Yamaha.

A crash for Brad Binder moments after Marc Marquez’s tumble left the KTM rider down in 10th, with Alex Rins (Yamaha) and Q1 pacesetter Alex Marquez – who registered no lap times on his Gresini Ducati – completing the top 12.

Espargaro was 0.214s away from exiting Q1 and will start 13th on his Aprilia ahead of VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, with Oliveira and Raul Fernandez following.

Franco Morbidelli was 17th on his Pramac Ducati ahead of Augusto Fernandez (Tech3), while all four Honda riders headed by LCR’s Johann Zarco filled out the last four spots on the grid.

Portuguese GP - Q2 results:

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 7

1'37.706

  172.583  
2 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 7

+0.082

1'37.788

0.082 172.438  
3 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 8

+0.106

1'37.812

0.024 172.396  
4 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 8

+0.216

1'37.922

0.110 172.202  
5 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 8

+0.326

1'38.032

0.110 172.009  
6 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 8

+0.366

1'38.072

0.040 171.938  
7 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 4

+0.432

1'38.138

0.066 171.823  
8 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 4

+0.441

1'38.147

0.009 171.807  
9 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 8

+0.616

1'38.322

0.175 171.501  
10 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 6

+0.706

1'38.412

0.090 171.344  
11 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 7

+0.796

1'38.502

0.090 171.188  
12 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 3

 

     

Portuguese GP - Q1 results:

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 7

1'38.060

  171.960  
2 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 8

+0.005

1'38.065

0.005 171.951  
3 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 7

+0.219

1'38.279

0.214 171.576  
4 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 6

+0.249

1'38.309

0.030 171.524  
5 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 7

+0.325

1'38.385

0.076 171.391  
6 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 8

+0.388

1'38.448

0.063 171.282  
7 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 8

+0.394

1'38.454

0.006 171.271  
8 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 7

+0.874

1'38.934

0.480 170.440  
9 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 8

+0.944

1'39.004

0.070 170.320  
10 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 8

+0.965

1'39.025

0.021 170.284  
11 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 7

+0.998

1'39.058

0.033 170.227  
12 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 7

+1.391

1'39.451

0.393 169.554  
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