Jorge Martin

MotoGP: Martin wins pole at San Marino

Jorge Martin will start the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini Tissot Sprint and Grand Prix race from pole position.

Martin set a pole time of 1m30.390s – a Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli all-time lap record.

Jorge Martin
Jorge Martin

Marco Bezzecchi and reigning World Champion Francesco Bagnaia will start from the front row on home turf after stellar efforts in qualifying.

Aprilia rule Q1

As the first hot laps were slammed in, Miguel Oliveira led by a healthy 0.3s over Fabio Quartararo, with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) 0.6s adrift in P8 – as younger brother Pol Espargaro (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3) suffered an early crash.

Quartararo improved his time to a 1m31.678 to get a tenth and a half clear of third place Michele Pirro (Aruba.it Racing), but wildcard Stefan Bradl (HRC Team) then pounced to P2. Pol Espargaro’s session was then over as he went down unhurt for a second time, as Aleix Espargaro shot to P1 by 0.021s. Could Quartararo get himself back into the top two? Not quite. The barest of margins cost El Diablo – 0.038s to be precise – as Oliveira returned to P1 on his last lap. The Aprilia pair sailed into Q2.

Lap record obliterated in Q2

After a brief pause in proceedings, the fastest 12 riders fired up their machines as we got set for the San Marino GP pole position fight. After the slower banker laps were set, the rapid times started to be hit home as Bezzecchi’s 1:31.027 handed the Italian a tenth advantage over Martin, with Bagnaia’s first lap placing him a brilliant P3 – 0.152s off Bezzecchi’s time. Martin went for another time attack and it was a new all-time lap record – a 1:30.832 saw the Spaniard rise to P1, 0.195s clear of the chasers.

As the pack peeled into pitlane, Martin led Bezzecchi and Bagnaia, with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) P4 and Aleix Espargaro P5 – your leading quintet in the title race setting the pace in the opening part of Q2.

An absolute barnstormer then came for Martin on fresh rubber. A mind-blowing 1:30.390 put the #89 0.6s clear of Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), but P2 was short-lived for the MotoGP™ Legend as Pecco climbed onto the front row again. Bezzecchi responded to return to the middle of the front row, however, the #72 was a mighty four tenths adrift.

On his final lap, Pecco was giving it all he had. A red split came through Sector 2 but time was lost in the latter half of the lap, as the Championship leader improved his time but stayed P3 – 0.039s away from Bezzecchi. In the end though, no one could get within touching distance of Martin’s absolute stunner. A first pole since the 2022 Valencia GP was clinched by the title-chasing Spaniard, and what a time to do it too.

Top 12 for the San Marino GP

Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) was able to set his personal best time on the final lap to climb to the front of Row 2 in P4, the Spaniard has wildcard Pedrosa – the leading KTM – and Aleix Espargaro for company behind the leading trio. Binder fronts Row 3 in P7, Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) claimed P8 and P9 respectively, with Oliveira, Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) and Raul Fernandez (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP™ Team) rounding out the top 12.

Next: the Tissot Sprint

With Bagnaia not fully fit, Martin and Bezzecchi need to capitalize on the #1’s stomping ground. A scintillating and crucial Tissot Sprint awaits at 15:00 local time (GMT+2), tune in!

Qualifying Results

POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/BEHIND
1 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP23) 1m30.390s
2 Marco Bezzecchi ITA Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) +0.397s
3 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Lenovo (GP23) +0.436s
4 Maverick Viñales SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23) +0.526s
5 Dani Pedrosa SPA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +0.633s
6 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23) +0.692s
7 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +0.713s
8 Luca Marini ITA Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) +0.820s
9 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.833s
10 Miguel Oliveira POR RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22) +0.887s
11 Alex Marquez SPA Gresini Ducati (GP22) +0.888s
12 Raul Fernandez SPA RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22) +0.951s
Qualifying 1:
13 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1’31.467s
14 Michele Pirro ITA Aruba.it Ducati (GP23) 1’31.533s
15 Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda (RC213V) 1’31.56s
16 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP23) 1’31.667s
17 Augusto Fernandez SPA Tech3 GASGAS (RC16)* 1’31.678s
18 Jack Miller AUS Red Bull KTM (RC16) 1’31.713s
19 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1’31.845s
20 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) 1’31.851s
21 Fabio Di Giannantonio ITA Gresini Ducati (GP22) 1’31.914s
22 Joan Mir SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) 1’31.944s
23 Pol Espargaro SPA Tech3 GASGAS (RC16) 1’32.14s

*Rookie.