And four months later, Marc Márquez is back on pole. The Cervera-born rider swept the qualifying stage of the Aragón GP, in which he distanced his closest rivals, Pedro Acosta, second, and Pecco Bagnaia, third, by more than 8 tenths, the biggest lead of the season in Q2. It is the biggest gap in qualifying in five years, since the Czech Republic GP in August 2019, when Márquez beat Jack Miller by 2.5 seconds in Brno… in the wet.
That day, the Catalan equalled Mick Doohan as the best poleman in the history of the premier class with 58 poles. Now he has 66 (94 in the three categories).
After being the fastest in both Friday sessions, for the first time since October 2021, Marc Márquez has the best position to seek victory in the Sprint (3:00 p.m.) and the Sunday race, in which he will be the big favourite. The 93 had not achieved a pole position since the Spanish GP in Jerez, on April 27.
Martin’s fall
Márquez had no rival in the classification; Martín fell on the first lap, Acosta came within 8 tenths and Bagnaia did not go beyond third place.
The qualifying session was dominated in its 15 minutes, from start to finish, by Marc Márquez, who felt very comfortable and strong on a track that woke up damp due to the rain that night. A circumstance that reduced grip and led Jorge Martín to fall on his first lap.
So Márquez was able, from his first flying lap, to put 6 tenths of a second ahead of his closest pursuer, Pedro Acosta. In his second, Marc extended the lead to 630 thousandths over the Murcian and 1.030 seconds over Bagnaia, who moved up to third place.
Marc Marquez at Motorland in Alcañiz
Javier Cebollada / EFE
The 93 was on fire, brimming with confidence. He passed Acosta like a plane on the back straight and put 1.3 seconds on him. There hasn’t been such a big gap between the top two in qualifying all year.
Martín returned to the track at the end of the session to get within 884 thousandths of Marc, Bagnaia got within 842 and Acosta, in his last attempt, got within 840. All three are very far behind. But they will be on the front row, next to Márquez.
The positions
Starting grid
Aragon GP qualifying session times
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