Francesco Bagnaia has beaten team-mate Jack Miller to pole position for the Aragon MotoGP by nine hundredths of a second in a Ducati front row lockout.

In even better news for Bagnaia, championship leader Fabio Quartararo could only manage sixth in a ragged Qualifying 2 session aboard his Monster Energy Yamaha.

The Italian therefore has a good chance to further reduce Quartararo’s margin at the top of the points table, which he has already cut to 30 with victories in each of the last four races.

Gresini Racing rider Enea Bastianini was fastest initially in Q2 on a 1:46.580s which seemed impressive enough until the Ducati Lenovo Team’s Bagnaia charged to a new outright lap record of 1:46.069s at the start of his second run.

No one was going quicker, although Miller came close when he laid down a 1:46.159s to earn second on the grid, while Bastianini ended up third with a 1:46.313s.

Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro escaped from Qualifying 1 on his way to fourth on a 1:46.590s and Prima Pramac Ducati pilot Johann Zarco, who also advanced from that opening stanza, claimed fifth on a 1:46.646s.

There had been a question mark over where Espargaro would start given he came under investigation for allegedly impeding Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati) in Q1 at the exit of Turn 1, although stewards ultimately decided that no further action was necessary.

Quartararo was clearly pushing hard to try and compensate for the YZR-M1’s shortcomings in Q2 at Aragon, an endeavour which nearly resulted in a crash for the 2021 world champion.

He saved that moment at Turn 2 and hence earned the right for one more flying lap, on which he set a 1:46.802s to improve from 10th to sixth.

Row 3 will be Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati), Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati), and Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar), with Row 4 comprised of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM), and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu LCR Honda).

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) missed out on Q2 in his return to competitive action and will start 13th.

The six-time premier class champion had been quickest after the first runs in the opening 15-minute hit-out but failed to improve thereafter, unlike Espargaro or Zarco.

Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) crashed on his way to qualifying 16th, as did Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda) after setting a time good enough for 18th all-told, while Tech3 KTM team-mates Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner ended up 21st and 22nd respectively.

Earlier, Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan Mir, who returned to the field this weekend after his Red Bull Ring highside two rounds ago, withdrew due to ongoing pain in his right ankle and will also miss next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

Race start at Aragon is scheduled for Sunday at 22:00 AEST.

Qualifying: Aragon MotoGP