Bagnaia furious with Marquez as he wins battle for pole

Francesco Bagnaia will start the Mugello MotoGP sprint from pole after getting the better of Marc Marquez.

10 Jun 2023

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati MotoGP Mugello 2023

Q2 started with an immediate crash for Enea Bastianini in sector three, while Marco Bezzecchi set a blistering time of 1:45.372s in order to lead from Marquez.

Down on Bezzecchi’s time heading into the final part of the lap, Martin produced a brilliant last few corners to make up the time needed and go onto provisional pole.

There was drama at the beginning of Bagnaia’s second stint as he was left furious with Marquez.

The world champion felt as though Marquez should have slowed on the exit of pit lane to allow him through, even though Marquez was well ahead of him.

Bagnaia was then fully committed on his next lap as weh went quickest, while dragging Marquez around to P2.

Brad Binder, who had been very quick in qualifying trim through practice, crashed in sector three.

Jack Miller was next to challenge Bagnaia’s top time but ultimately went third, before Alex Marquez pushed the Australian down to fourth.

Fabio Quartararo out in Q1 for third consecutive MotoGP round

First across the line was Maverick Vinales who set a low 1m 46s time, however, Michele Pirro, Franco Morbidelli, Quartararo and Alex Marquez all went faster.

Marquez set a time of 1:45.701s to go two tenths clear of the factory Yamaha duo, before extending his margin with a time that was nearly five tenths clear of Morbidelli.

As riders headed back to pit lane following the opening stint, Jack Miller was the first rider currently missing out on a Q2 spot, while Quartararo was close behind in fourth.

Vinales was fifth and in desperate need of finding improvements, which he did, as the Aprilia rider jumped up to second place.

There was a big crash for Raul Fernandez, which was his second of the day after already losing the front-end in Practice 3.

Vinales was quickly bumped down third and although he challenged Miller for second on his final lap, the Spaniard came up short, as did Quartararo who was also out-qualified by Morbidelli and Takaaki Nakagami.