Aug 29 (Reuters) – Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi became the first rider to crack the one minute and 45 seconds barrier at MotorLand, snatching pole position for the Aragon Grand Prix and ending Marc Marquez’s bid for a hat-trick of poles at the circuit on Saturday.
The Italian initially set the pace with a time of 1:44.984 before going even faster with another lap record of 1:44.962, leaving Ducati’s Marquez unable to match the Aprilia rider’s scorching pace.
Marquez, who has won seven MotoGP races at Aragon, will start alongside Bezzecchi on the front row despite a heart-stopping moment while braking on a flying lap. His brother Alex Marquez, of Gresini Racing, completes the front row.
“Well, it was a positive morning overall… Obviously, the qualifying was good fun. I’m happy to be fast and to grab the pole position,” Bezzecchi said.
“Now the real job starts… We start in a good place, but Marc and Alex are both super fast in terms of pace with both tyres, so it’s going to be a tough fight. But we are enjoying and let’s see what we can do.”
Reigning world champion Marc Marquez accepted that Bezzecchi had the faster bike.
“Marco, at the moment, has a better pace than us, so sometimes you cannot do anything. You just try to do your best and it’s what we are doing,” he said.
“I pushed hard on that brake point, maybe too much and I had that moment. I feel that I can keep a constant pace, but Marco basically has a bit faster pace.”
Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez was fourth-fastest and he will line up on the second row with Aprilia’s Jorge Martin and KTM’s Pedro Acosta.
The third row features VR46 Racing’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia and LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco, who made a memorable return from a knee injury sustained in a crash at the Catalan Grand Prix in May.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Alex Richardson)
