Bagnaia On Misano Pole, Quartararo Career-Worst 15th
Calum Gill 14:22 23/10/2021
Ducati's title contender Francesco Bagnaia took his fourth successive pole in qualifying at Misano, as championship leader Fabio Quartararo mustered only 15th.
Quartararo was participating in Q1 for the first time this year and was denied progression from the final segment late on, struggling to produce his usual slick-tyre pace in the treacherous conditions at Misano. Qualifying, effectively the first fully-dry session of the weekend, was informed by the preceding FP4 that marked the crossover between wets and slicks - which corresponded with track conditions that caught out a lot of riders, prompting as many as eight crashes.
Indeed, there were four more falls in Q1, and while Quartararo was not among them, he ended up a full second off his title rival and fellow Q1 participant Bagnaia, with damp-track virtuoso Iker Lecuona securing the second transfer spot for Tech3 KTM. Quartararo’s best lap was actually good enough for 13th on the grid, but it was deleted due to a yellow-flag infringement, as Enea Bastianini had crashed ahead of him, in what was Bastianini’s third crash across FP4 and Q1. Quartararo was therefore demoted to 15th, exacerbating what already was his career-worst MotoGP qualifying, given he has never lined up lower than 11th on the grid in the premier class.
Once the pole shoot-out commenced, Bagnaia - who is 52 points off Quartararo with 75 available - took a commanding early lead, posting a 01:33.045 that he wouldn’t be able to surpass with his final attempts. Despite this, it proved just barely out of reach for the rest of the pack, with team-mate Jack Miller ending up 0.025 seconds short. Rookie Luca Marini made it a remarkable Ducati 1-2-3 at the chequered flag, lapping just 0.085 seconds off pole for Sky VR46 Avintia, while Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha) make up the second row.
Six-time champion Marc Márquez was seventh, having saved a potentially huge crash in which he was almost-crouched over the handlebars after losing control of the bike through Turn 2. He ultimately did crash on his final attempt. Also crashing were Tech3 KTM riders Lecuona and Danilo Petrucci, who join Márquez on row three, and Johann Zarco, who completed the top 10. The Pramac Ducati man was following Bagnaia on his final lap but fell, and was briefly trapped under his Desmosedici bike.
The Q2 order was completed by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaró and Zarco’s team-mate Jorge Martín, the Spanish rookie falling twice in the pole shoot-out. Lining up ahead of Quartararo on the fifth row will be Álex Rins (Suzuki) and Álex Márquez (LCR Honda). The former followed Quartararo himself throughout all of Q1, while the latter tucked in behind Bagnaia. Rins’ reigning champion team-mate Joan Mir was only eighth in Q1, having dropped his Suzuki at the final corner, but will start ahead of two fellow first-segment fallers - Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder (20th) and Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro (22nd).
Petronas Yamaha SRT rider Valentino Rossi was among those having their best time deleted for a yellow flag infringement, but even his best time would’ve only been good enough for last for what is set to be his final MotoGP race on home soil. Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori had been ruled out from continuing further in the weekend after sustaining a collarbone fracture in a crash in third practice, which also means that he will skip a planned Portimao outing.
