MotoGP: Bagnaia smashes laprecord for Aragon pole

Qualifying for round 13 of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship took place in MotorLand Aragon in predictably sunny conditions. Fabio Quartararo was fastest in the combined free practice times, while the top four were covered by less than 0.1 seconds. 

In Q1, Johann Zarco topped the times after his first run. The others seemed incapable of matching his speed in the fourth sector and, in his second run, neither was Zarco himself. He was, though, able to improve his lap time by just under a tenth of a second, and it proved enough to send him through to Q2.

Joining Zarco in going through to Q2 was Brad Binder, who might have gone faster but for a mistake on his final lap. It did not cost the South African, though, who continues to be KTM’s standout rider at the moment. 

Q2 belonged solely to Francesco Bagnaia, who demolished both the field and the lap record with a 1:48.322 to take his second career MotoGP pole position, after starting 2021 off with a top spot on Saturday in Qatar. Bagnaia and Ducati have been strong straight out of the box in Aragon, with the Desmosedici able to manage the low grip conditions. Likewise, Jack Miller was strong from Friday morning, and he topped the combined times on Friday night. The Australian, in qualifying, was able to back his teammate up by going second fastest to make it a Ducati 1-2 on the grid in MotorLand, which two days ago was not a Ducati track.

Completing the front row was Fabio Quartararo, as is the custom. The Frenchman has still not missed the front row all season, although he is without a pole position since Barcelona. The Frenchman will have a tough job on Sunday to beat the Ducatis, as will almost everyone. With the Desmosedicis having comparable pace to Quartararo, he will have to engage them in battle in order to come out on top, and with the power advantage of the Bologna Bullets, and the length of the back straight, the odds would be stacked against the World Championship leader. 

The one rider who might not have to worry about the Ducatis too much tomorrow is Marc Marquez, because he should have much more pace than Jack Miller, and slightly more than Francesco Bagnaia. In FP4, Marquez set the fastest lap of the session, a 1:48.116, on his final lap, the 17th of the soft tyre he was using at the time. The soft option seems to be the preferred one for everyone on the rear, and the only rider to have anything close to the #93 was Bagnaia, who set his personal fastest lap of FP4, a 1:48.299, also on the 17th lap of that soft option rear tyre. No one else seems capable of running low-1:48s after 15 laps, and even Bagnaia is dropping to high-1:48s after lap 20. The race is 23 laps, and Marquez seems to have competition only from Bagnaia for that kind of duration.

It would be wrong, though, to discount Jorge Martin. Like in Silverstone, the Spaniard has qualified one place behind Marquez, this time in fifth place, and his speed in the race has typically been more than that which he has shown in practice, especially since the Austrian race.

Completing the second row tomorrow will be Aleix Espargaro, whose Aprilia seems to be liking the low-grip conditions of Aragon slightly less than the high-grip conditions of Silverstone. In any case, Espargaro looks strong and could be in the fight for the podium tomorrow. 

The lap that took Espargaro to sixth cost Joan Mir the second row, and once more the Spaniard will start from seventh. This despite being in the top three after FP3 on Saturday morning, and seeming quite confident on Friday night. With no ride height device present for Suzuki this weekend, it will be a tough job for the reigning champion tomorrow with such a slow exit onto the back straight. 

Pol Espargaro qualified eighth, and Enea Bastianini impressed in ninth place on his Q2 debut; while Johann Zarco will head up row four from Takaaki Nakagami and Brad Binder, who had no soft tyres left after coming through Q1.

While it was Binder who flew the KTM flag in Q2, Iker Lecuona did not disgrace himself at all in Q1, finishing third fastest. Since the Spaniard had his future confirmed – at least in as much as he will not be racing in Tech3 KTM next season – he has seemed to find some more speed in himself, and he proved that again in MotorLand qualifying, after finishing as second KTM two weeks ago in Silverstone. Lecuona will be joined by Alex Marquez and Cal Crutchlow on the fifth row tomorrow. 

On row six, Danilo Petrucci will start from 16th, ahead of Luca Marini and Miguel Oliveira, whose struggles continue despite the lower grip in Aragon. Maverick Vinales will start his Aprilia debut from 19th, alongside Alex Rins and Valentino Rossi, who both had shocking qualifying sessions, on row seven; while Jake Dixon will start from 22nd and last in his second MotoGP outing with Petronas SRT. Not a bad showing, though, from Dixon, who was less than 0.3 seconds slower than teammate Rossi in just his second MotoGP qualifying session.