Pedro Acosta grabs pole, Marco Bezzecchi crashes in Catalunya MotoGP qualifying
Pedro Acosta gets his second career MotoGP pole in Barcelona MotoGP qualifying
KTM’s Pedro Acosta scored his first MotoGP pole in two years in qualifying for the Catalan Grand Prix, as both factory Aprilia riders crashed.
After topping Friday’s running at Barcelona, the KTM remained rapid over a single lap in Q2 as Pedro Acosta took control early and maintained top spot throughout.
The Spaniard topped Q2 with a 1m38.068s to claim just his second career pole and his first since the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix.
Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi’s tough run at Barcelona continues, after a crash in Q2 left him 12th.
Team-mate Jorge Martin also crashed in Q1, but was able to come through into Q2 and put his Aprilia ninth on the grid.
VR46 Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli was second on the grid, with Alex Marquez on the Gresini-run Ducati completing the front row.
Acosta set the early pace in Q2 with a 1m38.397s, before improving to a 1m38.118s.
On his final flying lap, the KTM rider produced a 1m38.068s to cement pole position, with Acosta ending the session 0.233s clear of the field.
Morbidelli, who came through Q1, was Acosta’s nearest challenger on a 1m38.301s, with Alex Marquez 0.274s off pole in third.
Raul Fernandez was the leading Aprilia in Q2, after the Trackhouse rider was fourth with a 1m38.453s.
He beat LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco, who brushed off a crash at the start of FP2, to qualify fifth ahead of the sister VR46 Ducati of Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Fabio Quartararo was the leading Yamaha in seventh, as KTM’s Brad Binder shadowed him in eighth.
Martin held onto a Q2 place despite a late crash in the first qualifying segment, but could only get to ninth in the pole shootout.
Joan Mir was 10th after leading FP2 for Honda, with Pramac Yamaha’s Jack Miller and championship leader Bezzecchi 12th.
He went down with around four minutes to go at Turn 2.
Pecco Bagnaia was the big casualty of Q1, as the factory Ducati rider was denied a Q2 spot after inadvertently towing Morbidelli to a better time.
The double world champion will start 13th ahead of Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini and Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer, who crashed in Q1.
Luca Marini (Honda) will start 16th from returning Tech3 rider Maverick Vinales and Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura.
The grid was completed by Yamaha’s Alex Rins, LCR Honda’s Diogo Moreira, Yamaha wildcard Augusto Fernandez and Pramac’s Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Razgatlioglu crashed in the closing stages of Q1.
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