Espargaro delivers stunning lap to beat Miller to pole, Quartararo only P16

Aleix Espargaro produced once again for Aprilia to claim a first MotoGP pole position of the season, and his first in front of his home crowd in Jerez.

Robert Jones

29 Apr 2023

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia MotoGP Jerez 2023

Leading a star-studded line-up in Q1, Marco Bezzecchi was first of the big hitters to set a lap time as he narrowly beat Alex Rins to top spot.

Fabio Di Giannaotnio then bettered Bezzecchi’s time before another Fabio in the form of Quartararo went quickest by under a tenth.

As lightning struck just over the Jerez circuit, Bezzecchi was unfazed as he went half a second clear of Quartararo.

The Yamaha rider then reduced Bezzecchi’s advantage to just over two tenths, while Francesco Bagnaia was only fifth following the opening stint.

Like the opening run, Bezzecchi was first to set a time as he improved by another tenth. However, Bagnaia finally found the type of performance expected as he went quickest thanks to a supreme final sector.

Brad Binder instantly nudged Bagnaia back to second before Bezzecchi dropped the world champion to third. But once again, Bagnaia responded and went quickest with a time of 1:36.493s.

Bezzecchi was the final rider to come across the line as he narrowly missed out on a Q2 berth, before rain started to fall between Q1 and Q2.

While the rain didn’t appear to be heavy, Brad Binder and Alex Marquez ventured out for the start of Q2 with full wets.

Making the most of the tricky conditions, Jack Miller was seven tenths clear of Bagnaia following the opening flurry of laps.

After switching to dry tyres, Marquez then made the first move as he went three tenths clear of Miller.

While others continued to find it tough, Marquez was a level above the rest as he smashed his previous time. A time of 1:41.682s was set in order to go a second clear.

However, another Ducati rider then joined the party as Luca Marini went fastest for the Mooney VR46 Ducati team.

Aleix Espargaro then went quickest for Aprilia before Marquez, who was eyeing up his second pole in three rounds, went nine tenths clear thanks to the first sub 1m 40s lap of the session.

Johann Zarco was the next rider to stake his claim as he overhauled Miller - the pair exchanged fastest times again on their penultimate laps before Espargaro went quickest for the third time.

Determined to keep Aprilia at the top, Espargaro set a sensational time of his flying lap to beat Miller and Martin to pole, while Dani Pedrosa’s stunning weekend continued as he claimed sixth behind Binder and Bagnaia.