MotoGP: Bagnaia blasts Qatar lap record for first 2021 pole

Qualifying for the first round of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship got underway at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. 

In Q1, the biggest pressure was on reigning World Champion, Joan Mir, who missed out on direct Q2 qualification in FP2 on Friday night. Fortunately for the #36, he managed to do enough to get through to the all-important second session, but not without worry caused by Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin. Unfortunately for the Ducati rookies, they were bettered by Takaaki Nakagami, who topped the session to join Mir in advancing to Q2. 

Q2 was set up for the first ever sub-1’52 lap time in Losail, and it was Francesco Bagnaia who delivered with a 1’52.772 to take his first premier class pole position on the eve of his first race for the factory Ducati team. Alongside the record-breaking #63 will be the factory Yamaha duo of Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales, who did what was required of them considering their top speed deficit, and that is make the front row. 

Vinales’ gain was Rossi’s loss at the end of Q2. The Italian was third before Vinales’ displaced him with his final effort, but a second row start for the 42-year-old means he is still in the frame for a good result tomorrow, and proves he still has the speed to fight with the best in MotoGP in his 26th season. 

Joining Rossi on the second row tomorrow will be Jack Miller and Johann Zarco, who broke 360kph in FP4. It was a bit of a disappointing result for Miller, who topped the times on Friday, but he, like Rossi, remains in a strong position off the line, as does Zarco. 

As Rossi was bumped from the front row, his teammate, Franco Morbidelli, was bumped from the second, courtesy of Zarco. The third row could be a problem for the Italian, but it is not impossible that the #21 could find himself in podium contention. 

Next to the second Petronas Yamaha will be Aleix Espargaro, only 0.5 seconds behind Bagnaia on the Aprilia, and Alex Rins who completes the third row. 

Joan Mir was only able to manage 10th ahead of the beginning of his title defence tomorrow night, and the Spaniard will be joined by the two Hondas of Takaaki Nakagami and Pol Espargaro on row four.

The aforementioned Bastianini and Martin will line up tomorrow in 13th and 14th, respectively, on row five. But both had stunning qualifying debuts and added more evidence that the Moto2 class is better than it ever has been with regards to preparing riders for MotoGP. The pair will be joined by Miguel Oliveira on row five, the Portuguese qualifying as top KTM in 15th as their Qatar struggles continue. 

Alex Marquez qualified 16th for his LCR Honda Castrol debut, ahead of Stefan Bradl, who is this weekend once again replacing Marc Marquez, and the third of the Ducati rookies, Luca Marini who did not disgrace himself with 18th. 

Brad Binder qualified 19th, ahead of KTM newcomer, Danilo Petrucci and his Tech 3 teammate, Iker Lecuona; while Lorenzo Savadori was 22nd and last.