Luca Marini claims pole as lap record tumbles in Qatar

Luca Marini has taken his first-ever MotoGP pole after setting a new all-time lap record in Lusail.

18 Nov 2023

As Q1 got underway at Lusail, big names such as Alex Marquez, Sepang race winner Enea Bastianini, Fabio Quartararo and Jack Miller were just some of the names involved.

Miller was first to set a very competitive lap time as he went top ahead of Alex Marquez, while Quartararo had to abandon his latest lap due to a mistake under braking.

Franco Morbidelli then went quickest before Johann Zarco put his Ducati on top with a time of 1:53.069s.

Having a disastrous session, Quartararo ended the opening stint in last place while there was a fall for Takaaki Nakagami, his first of the weekend.

Quartararo’s fortunes soon changed however, as he set a new lap record before Alex Marquez usurped him.

Zarco then set the third all-time lap record in quick succession, which relegated Quartararo outside of the top two.

The top two remained unchanged during the closing stages as Zarco and Marquez advanced to Q2.

Q2 then got underway with one title contender in Francesco Bagnaia being followed by Marc Marquez, while Jorge Martin slotted in behind Aleix Espargaro.

After making a mistake on his first flying lap, Martin then put a great banker lap in as he moved up to third.

Leading the way was Fabio Di Giannantonio with a time of 1:52.188s, while Luca Marini was second quickest after the opening stint.

A first-ever sub 1m 52s was set by Di Giannantonio as the Italian consolidated pole ahead of Alex Marquez who joined his team-mate on the front row.

Third fastest, Bagnaia was then pushed down to fourth as Marini set a stunning time of 1:51.762s to take pole.