BEZZECCHI TAKES POLE POSITION IN THE WEIRDEST MOTOGP QUALY OF THE YEAR
One of the most surprising MotoGP grids of the year is led by Marco Bezzecchi, who continued his strong form with a dominant performance at Mandalika. The Italian took pole position ahead of rookie Fermin Aldeguer and Raul Fernandez. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez had his toughest qualifying of 2025, ending up only ninth.
In Q1, both Marquez and his Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia had to fight for a spot in the second session. Marquez was initially in the top two along with Fabio Di Giannantonio, while Bagnaia struggled in seventh. Riding together, Di Giannantonio and his teammate Franco Morbidelli improved their laps, with Morbidelli briefly inside the top two before being pushed out. In the end, Marquez and Di Giannantonio went through to Q2, while Morbidelli missed out by just 0.048s. Bagnaia finished only sixth in Q1, leaving him 16th on the starting grid.
In Q2, the focus was on Bezzecchi, who had already been the fastest rider on Friday and in practice. He quickly set the pace and looked untouchable. Elsewhere, Fabio Quartararo crashed at Turn 15 but escaped unhurt and jumped back on his second bike.
With less than three minutes left, Marquez was only 10th and needed a fast lap. At the front, Pedro Acosta and Fernandez were fighting for the front row, but Bezzecchi blew everyone away with a new all-time lap record, the first ever in the 1’28s at Mandalika. Alex Rins also put in a strong lap to move up to third, though he later crashed, while Alex Marquez fell at Turn 13.
Nobody could get close to Bezzecchi, who took his second pole in three races with almost four-tenths of a second in hand. Aldeguer grabbed his first-ever MotoGP front row in second, with Fernandez third for his first front row since Sachsenring 2024. Rins, despite his crash, secured his best qualifying since Austin 2023. Acosta and Luca Marini completed the second row, meaning all five manufacturers are represented in the top six.
Alex Marquez ended up seventh after his late crash, ahead of Quartararo and Marc Marquez, who starts ninth, his lowest grid spot of the season. Miguel Oliveira joined the top ten for the first time since Aragon last year, finishing just ahead of Di Giannantonio and Joan Mir, who was third last time out in Japan.
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