Bagnaia back on top as he dethrones Espargaro in qualifying

Francesco Bagnaia spolis Aprilia's party after claiming pole position for the Catalan MotoGP ahead of Aleix Espargaro.

02 Sep 2023

Francesco Bagnaia, MotoGP, Catalunya MotoGP, 1 September

Headlining a star-studded list of riders alongside Marc Marquez and Jack Miller, Fabio Quartararo found immediate pace as he broke into the 1m 39s barrier.

The Yamaha rider then saw his lap time beaten by Marquez before Miguel Oliveira went top.

Quartararo then saw his qualifying session turn into a nightmare after crashing at turn one.

The 2021 world champion ran off circuit and went down whilst trying to remain upright in the gravel.

With Quartararo picking up his M1, teammate Franco Morbidelli replaced him inside the top two after setting a time of 1:39.581s.

With Jack Miller just ahead of him, Marquez produced a stunning lap at the beginning of his final run as he went quickest.

However, the eight-time world champion was then moved down to second as Oliveira broke into the 1m 38s barrier. Oliveira’s brilliant lap was just shy of the all-time lap record.

With no one able to challenge the top times, Oliveira and Marquez chose not to remain on track for the closing stages as they advanced to Q2.

Starting the session with a used soft rear tyre, Marquez was first to cross the line in Q2 with a mid 1m 40s, however that was immediately beaten by a full second as Jorge Martin went quickest.

But right on cue the two factory Aprilias continued their stunning turn of pace as Aleix Espargaro went quickest ahead of Maverick Vinales.

Brad Binder then split the two Aprilia riders on his second lap, while it was Vinales who was now the rider on provisional pole after setting a time of 1:39.099s.

As he did in Q1, Marquez chose his next victim for a tow as he positoned himself behind world champion Bagnaia.

But the Honda rider had no answer to the pace being shown by Bagnaia, as the Ducati rider set a new lap record.

Bagnaia came close to setting a new lap record on his next effort as he led the remaining three Aprilias.

Espargaro was the only rider able to challenge Bagnaia as the checkered flag came out, however, the 34-year-old was unable to overhaul the championship leader.