Marc Márquez takes first pole position of the season in Jerez

FP2

Second Free Practice, which Pedro Acosta won, took place under wet conditions but it wasn’t raining anymore and the track was slowly drying. First competitive laps were set by Acosta but Miller and M. Marquez quickly outperformed his time.

Ten minutes into the session there was a yellow flag caused by Mir, who damaged his motorcycle but with marshals’ help managed to drove into the pits. Razgatliogu was doing quite well throughout the entire FP2, 12 minutes before the end he was second behind M. Marquez and finished the session fifth.

 In the last five minutes there were two yellow flags. First in Sector 4 caused by Aldeguer who fell off his motorcycle and was seen limping. The second yellow flag happened in Sector 3 not even a minute before the end and it was Binder who fell off but he didn’t seem injured.

Q1

In this part of quali, the fastest two riders will improve to Q2. These riders were in this part of quali: Mir, Zarco, Marini, Morbidelli, Acosta, Binder, Quartararo, Razgatlioglu, Moreira, Miller, Rins, Savadori, Fernandez. The majority of the riders chose to have a medium rear tyre, with either a soft or medium at the front.

The first yellow flag was out just after 4 minutes and it was caused by Morbidelli crashing in sector 3. The first times were in a range of 1:49s to 1:51s.

The fastest from the start was Pedro Acosta, taking the lead, with Marini in second place. The second yellow flag was caused by Jack Miller crashing at Turn 13, and he was seen running across the track to the pits. With the session halfway done, only 8 riders had completed a measured lap.

The third yellow flag was out with 7 minutes left and was caused by Moreira crashing. Meanwhile, Zarco improved his time and moved up to the lead with a time of 1:48.388s. On his next lap, he further improved his time. Soon Acosta joined him, and both were 1.5s ahead of the rest of the riders, being the clear candidates for improving to Q2.

The session ended with the order as follows: Zarco, Acosta, Binder, Mir, Marini, A. Fernandez, Quartararo, Morbidelli, Razgatlioglu, Savadori, Rins, Miller, Moreira.

With the chequered flag out, it was Zarco and Acosta who advanced to Q2.

Q2

This part of qualifying was delayed due to track conditions.

In this part of quali were: A. Márquez, Di Giannantonio, Bezzecchi, M. Márquez, Ogura, Bagnaia, R. Fernandez, Aldeguer, Martin, Bastianini, Zarco, Acosta.

The first times were in the range of 1:49s to 1:55s. After the first attempts, it was Acosta holding provisional pole. The first yellow flag in this session was caused by Aldeguer crashing in sector 3. Meanwhile, M. Márquez improved his time and moved to the front, taking the provisional lead, while most of the riders returned to the pits.

Alex Márquez, who had started a great lap, crashed midway through it. Meanwhile, his brother Marc improved his time at the front even more, going into the 1:48s range.

Johann Zarco started a very good lap and began to attack for provisional pole, but he was slower in sector 3. Still, he managed to take provisional pole.

With 5 minutes left, the order was as follows: Zarco, M. Márquez, Acosta, Martin, Bezzecchi, Bastianini, R. Fernandez, A. Márquez, Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia, Ogura, Aldeguer.

Martin, who also started a good attempt, crashed with barely 5 minutes left, bringing out another yellow flag.

With the end getting closer, the riders were pushing for late improvements. Alex Márquez improved his time and jumped to 3rd place, while his brother took provisional pole back.

With the chequered flag out, the riders were finishing their last laps. Sadly, Alex Márquez was waved off and could not start his last attempt. Ogura and Aldeguer were both without improvement, staying in 11th and 12th place.

Zarco, trying to push for an improvement, almost crashed, yet he managed to save it and finished in 2nd place. Marc Márquez took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. It was Di Giannantonio who rounded out the top 3, with Bezzecchi in 4th place.