Marco Bezzecchi sets a record at Misano; Marc Marquez is right on his heels. Bagnaia’s nightmare

With a spectacular 1:29.982—a new track record at the “Marco Simoncelli” circuit in Misano Adriatico—Marco Bezzecchi secured pole position for the San Marino and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix at the conclusion of MotoGP qualifying. The Aprilia rider was 198 thousandths of a second faster than Marc Marquez (Ducati) and 368 thousandths of a second ahead of a surprising Fermin Aldeguer (Ducati Gresini), who rounds out the front row of the starting grid.

Two Italians are on the second row: Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati VR46), fourth with a gap of 404 thousandths, and Luca Marini (Honda), who did well to set the sixth-fastest time, 627 thousandths behind Bezzecchi. In between them is the Romagna rider’s teammate, overall standings leader Jorge Martin, whose best time, however, is 587 thousandths slower than “Bez’s.”

Starting from the third row will be Pedro Acosta (KTM, +0.658), Franco Morbidelli (Ducati VR46, +0.661), and Alex Marquez (Ducati Gresini, +0.714), the latter of whom crashed in the very early stages of Q2. Starting from the fourth row, meanwhile, will be Raúl Fernández (Aprilia Trackhouse, +0.871), Johann Zarco (+0.905), and Pol Espargaró (KTM Tech3, +1.198).

Eliminated after the conclusion of Q1 (which had promoted Fernandez and Aldeguer) were Fabio Quartararo on Yamaha, Pecco Bagnaia—who is struggling more and more on the Ducati—Diogo Moreira of the Honda LCR team, Enea Bastianini on KTM Tech3, Joan Mir on Honda, Jack Miller on Pramac Yamaha, Brad Binder on KTM, Alex Rins on Yamaha, and Toprak Razgatlioglu on Pramac Yamaha. The Sprint Race is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, and the Grand Prix for 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.