Marco Bezzecchi led an all-Aprilia front row in qualifying for MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, as Aprilia overturned Ducati's Friday advantage.
There were five Ducatis in the top six at the end of Friday practice, but none could crack the front row here as Bezzecchi stormed to the first-ever sub-1m44s MotoGP lap at Mugello, a 1m43.921s.
Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez ran behind him after progressing through Q1, and was 0.224s off, while Jorge Martin completed the 1-2-3 - having headed the field after the opening runs.
Martin had set the new official MotoGP top speed record in the earlier practice session, clocking in at 368.6km/h (229mph) in the speed trap (aided by a slipstream from a pair of Hondas).
The returning Marc Marquez was the lead Ducati rider in qualifying in fourth, and looked to have strong front row potential - but his decision to follow KTM's Pedro Acosta on his fastest lap backfired, with Acosta simply not fast enough in the third sector and thus costing Marquez crucial laptime there.
Slotting in behind Marquez were Gresini Ducati rider Fermin Aldeguer and factory Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia. Bagnaia was at the head of a nine-rider group in the opening runs, but that strategy backfired, and he made a point of running all alone on his second rear tyre.
Friday pacesetter Fabio Di Giannantonio was only seventh, perhaps hampered by being limited to just his spare bike - after his main bike shut off in pre-qualifying practice.
Rookie Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda), Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati), Acosta (KTM), Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) and Alex Rins (Yamaha) completed a Q2 field covered by 1.128s.
Provisional Italian GP grid
1 Bezzecchi 2 Fernandez 3 Martin
4 Marquez 5 Aldeguer 6 Bagnaia
7 Di Giannantonio 8 Moreira 9 Morbidelli
10 Acosta 11 Bastianini 12 Rins
13 Ogura 14 Binder 15 Mir
16 Marini 17 Miller 18 Quartararo
19 Vinales 20 Razgatlioglu 21 Pirro
22 Crutchlow
Ai Ogura was the only Aprilia rider absent from the front row - or Q2 as a whole, after missing out by a tenth versus Acosta (and three tenths versus team-mate Fernandez) in the opening segment.
He will share the fifth row of the grid with KTM's Brad Binder, who was closer to Acosta than in most qualifying session this season but is still yet to beat his team-mate, and Honda rider Joan Mir.
Mir and team-mate Luca Marini were split by just 0.005s (with Marini now 0-7 against Mir in qualifying for 2026).
LCR Honda's Johann Zarco stand-in Cal Crutchlow shaved off a second from his fastest Friday time - but was still last in the end, nine tenths back from fellow injury replacement Michele Pirro.
Pirro, shrugging off a crash in pre-qualifying practice, was just a quarter of a tenth down on Pramac Yamaha regular Toprak Razgatlioglu, who ended his Q1 with a bizarre crash on the lap to the pits.
from The Race https://ift.tt/kv5hxiP
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