Vinales take pole with new lap record as Bagnaia beats Martin
With the pressure on, Francesco Bagnaia made the perfect start to Q1 as he went quickest with a time of 1:29.690s.
But with plenty of red sectors lighting up the timingsheets, Alex Marquez then leapfrogged Bagnaia while Augusto Fernandez narrowly missed out on second spot.
- Razlan Razali bows out of RNF MotoGP team
- 2023 Valencia MotoGP: Qualifying & Sprint race LIVE UPDATES
At the start of the second and final time attack run, Bagnaia, who was still second behind Marquez, began lapping quicker than his fellow Ducati rider.
The reigning world champion finished his lap by nearly setting a new lap record as he regained top spot.
Bagnaia then smashed the lap record on his next lap as he all but secured a Q2 place ahead of Marquez.
Arguably the most important battle for pole this season, Q2 in Valencia started with Brad Binder and Jorge Martin going toe-to-toe for P1.
The KTM rider got the upper hand initially although his time was still slower than Bagnaia’s Q1 effort.
Bagnaia, who began the session with a used tyre, then exited pit lane with six minutes to go with a new soft rear tyre.
And the world champion didn’t waste any time in showing his potential as he went quickest.
But Bagnaia, who narrowly missed out on a sub 1m 29s lap again, saw Vinales pip him to pole as he did what Bagnaia couldn’t.
Giving it everything to beat Bagnaia, Martin made several mistakes and instead had to settle for fifth.
There were late crashes for both Marquez brothers as Marc went down briefly before Alex slid off his Ducati.
