Bagnaia dominates qualifying in Italy, Quartararo in repechage

Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) achieved the best combined time of the two qualifying sessions for the Italian Grand Prix, sixth round of the MotoGP season, on Friday, while Frenchman Fabio Quartararo disappointed and will still have to go through the qualifying repechage.

The reigning world champion, who said on Thursday that he was not 100% after a foot injury suffered in a fall during the last race, was the fastest in the second session after having been in difficulty the morning during the premiere.

For the third consecutive race, Quartararo, author of the 16th time, disappointed on the handlebars of his Yamaha and will have to go through the repechages (Q1). He will have to achieve one of the two best times on Saturday to be able to access the final qualifications (Q2) and fight for pole position.

It’s a big blow for the 2021 world champion, who seemed marked by this failure. Friday morning, however, he had set the second fastest time in the first practice session. “This morning I was surprised by my time and unfortunately this afternoon I thought I was doing much better. I will give my maximum in Q1 and we will see“said, resigned, El Diablo.

Bagnaiadvances Bezzecchi by six hundredths…

Bagnaia, who limps and moves with a crutch so as not to aggravate his injury, was six hundredths ahead of his compatriot Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati-VR46), who is hot on his heels in the provisional clification of the championship, while the Spaniard Alex Rins (Honda -LCR) took third place at eight hundredths.

South African Brad Binder (KTM) snatched fourth place on the gong, ahead of Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) and Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati), back after a shoulder injury suffered during the first weekend of the season.

Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac), who remains in third place ahead of his fans at Le Mans during the last Grand Prix, set the seventh fastest time on his last lap at the very end of the session. “I’m happy with the first day, I have the feeling of having been quick at the start and of having managed better than the other times. I feel better and better“, underlined the Avignonnais.

Spaniard Marc Marquez (Honda), who crashed ten minutes from the end of the session, ran back to his garage to get on his second bike and finally clinched eighth place and his ticket to Q2, just like his compatriot Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), ninth despite a foot injury and a fall in the morning.

Quartararo will have a lot to do…

It is the Italian Luca Marini who completes the Top 10, after narrowly beating the Spaniards Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and Raul Fernandez (Aprilia-RNF) by 11 and 17 thousandths respectively. Australian Jack Miller (KTM) will also have to go through the repechage.

Quartararo will therefore have a lot to do to take one of the first two places in Q1 and avoid missing Q2 for the third time in a row.