Jorge Martin destroys Misano lap record to claim pole

Jorge Martin will start the San Marino MotoGP from pole after shattering the lap record.

09 Sep 2023

The man of the moment in MotoGP, Aleix Espargaro was the surprise inclusion to Q1 and began his opening stint with Joan Mir in close proximity.

The Honda rider managed to stay close as he went faster than his fellow Spaniard, however, it was the factory Yamaha duo that occupied the top two spots following the first timed laps.

A low 1m 32s lap was set by Fabio Quartararo before Miguel Oliveira thought he took over at the top with a high 1m 31s time.

But the RNF Aprilia rider had his lap time deleted while Pol Espargaro suffered a disastrous start to qualifying. The KTM rider crashed on his second flying lap, taking his tally of crashes to three this weekend.

Oliveira then bounced back to go fastest with a time of 1:31.450s, which put him nearly four tenths clear of Quartararo.

Down in ninth spot, the second and final run was a vital one for Espargaro, which was also true for Johann Zarco who was sitting in 11th.

As lap times began hotting up, P. Espargaro ended his session in the gravel following a second crash (turn 13).

On-track, A. Espargaro kicked into full gear as he went quickest on his final flying lap. However, it wasn’t enough to hold off Oliveira as the Portuguese rider responded with a time of 1:31.272s.

Q2 began with Brad Binder going fastest, albeit his opening time was nearly eight tenths down on what Oliveira set in Q1.

World champion Francesco Bagnaia had his first lap deleted due to exceeding track limits.

Huge improvements were found on the second laps as Marco Bezzecchi set the fastest lap of the day.

Still on the first set of tyres, Martin then became the third rider to set a new lap record this weekend as he went onto provisional pole.

The Pramac rider wasn’t done there as he then found four tenths on his own lap record to move six tenths clear of Dani Pedrosa.

Bezzecchi also found more time as he went second, however, the Italian was still over four tenths off Martin.