MotoGP Which Comb
More from a press release from Dorna:
Fantastic four: Quartararo makes it with pole and lap record in Mugello for the fourth time in a row
Bagnaia and Zarco are hunting, Aprilia and KTM are right at the front on Saturday
Saturday May 29th 2021
Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took an impressive pole position at the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley. The Frenchman reported that it was one of his all-time best laps when he broke the all-time lap record with a 1-1 draw at Mugello. 45.187. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was his closest competitor in the final sprint, but had to be content with second place, while Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) finished third in a final lunge; once again the top driver of the independent team. That means it will be the top 3 of the championship in the front row on Sunday … with the winner in a row Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) looking for a good start from fifth place.
Q1
After a crash in the final stages of FP3, Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) found himself in Q1. At the start, Spaniard Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) showed his frustration when the two ended up on the same stretch and the Spaniard on a fast lap. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) then tried to follow the number 12 for towing despite Viñales’ objections and it worked when Viñales improved and Marquez was even more behind it.
With that, Marquez was the driver at the top and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) managed to push Viñales to third place and outside the graduation zone. The Yamaha rider was then on track to top the session on his final lap, but he rolled out of the session despite red sectors, leaving him 13th on the grid when Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaro got through.
Q2
Q2 ignited not long afterwards and Quartararo was the man to beat after seven minutes, the Frenchman leading the way after the first few runs. On the way back to her last shot on pole, it was number 20 again that also set the timing screens on fire. Almost half a second ahead after his last lap, the world championship leader had to wait and see if someone could improve his best time …
Aleix Espargaro was second at the time, Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was third as KTM continued to impress. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) kept that going too when he split the two up for a preliminary third part.
There was more to come. With Yamaha powerful through most of the tracks but Ducati often enjoying the lead in the last sector, Bagnaia, Zarco and Miller seemed to be on the right track to challenge Quartararo halfway through each of their laps. But at the next point in time it seemed like the pole sitter had been set as Bagnaia lost a few tenths, then Miller and then Zarco, who had too much left in the second half of the lap to make up for the French. However, given Quartararo’s advantage, the front row remained very open and Bagnaia was the first to take it, sliding into second place and reducing the lead to just a few tenths.
What could Müller do? It was a solid performance but not enough to challenge his teammate and the Austrian only managed to finish fifth when he crossed the finish line. However, Zarco was sitting directly behind him and the Pramac Racing driver shot from last to third place.
The grid
Quartararo will therefore start the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley from pole position, alongside Bagnaia and Zarco. Aleix Espargaro improved his last performance but only missed the front row and will instead lead the second for Aprilia on home turf.
Miller joins him there in the middle of row 2, and with the Ducati’s starts so far, this season could also have a chance at the holeshot from there. Binder couldn’t quite improve his last performance, but he completes the second row in more fantastic form from KTM, who also broke the all-time top speed record in MotoGP ™ with Binder on Saturday morning. The South African has never competed in MotoGP ™ at this track either, as the last visit was in 2019.
KTM team-mate Oliveira also impressed when he finished seventh and led the third row with both Suzuki by his side. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is eighth and team-mate and reigning champion Joan Mir on ninth, the former showing good speed all weekend and the latter making it straight into Q2 for the second time in 2021 – so it’s a little less work on race day.
Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) finished tenth ahead of Marc Marquez and his Respol Honda team-mate Pol Espargaro.
Viñales is next in P13, ahead of an impressive step forward on Saturday for top rookie Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) in 14th place. He left Takaaki Nakagami behind when the Japanese lost in Q1 and would start in 15th.
Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) had a tough qualifying, the “Doctor” started from P19.
The top three of the championship are the top three on the grid, consecutive winner Miller was a quick starter and Viñales faces a rematch across the field. What will race day at Mugello bring for MotoGP ™? Find out on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. (GMT +2).
Fabio Quartararo: “This morning when I was driving a 45.6 and I saw that Pecco was two tenths faster, I thought wow in qualifying we could get to 44. And yes. In the first run, I made a mistake on my first lap and I feel like the first lap on the tire with our bike is good. Probably one of my best laps ever, but I’d like to dedicate it to Jason. I hope we have good news. “