Jorge Martin obliterated the MotoGP lap record at Misano with a stunning qualifying lap to claim pole for the San Marino Grand Prix.
The Pramac Ducati rider was almost four tenths quicker than anyone else as he set a blistering pace in Qualifying 2 at the Marco Simoncelli Circuit.
Martin, who is second in the championship and 50 points behind Lenovo Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia, lapped in 1:30.390s to go 0.397s clear of VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi, who topped the times on Friday with a 1:30.846s.
Bezzecchi is riding with an injured left wrist, which he suffered in a first-corner pile-up at Catalunya last weekend.
Martin initially put down a marker after the first time attacks, bettering Bezzecchi’s Friday lap record with a time of 1:30.832s on his third lap with eight minutes left on clock before improving by more than four tenths.
Bagnaia, passed fit to race after his huge highside last weekend in Barcelona, took third on the factory Desmosedici for an all-Ducati front row lockout despite nursing an injured knee.
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Bagnaia was on a flying last lap but a slight mistake prevented him from threatening Martin’s time as he secured the final place on the front row.
Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Viñales – second-fastest on Friday – heads up the second row in fourth where he is joined by KTM test rider and wildcard Dani Pedrosa and Catalunya double winner Aleix Espargaro, who made a big step from Friday’s practice to slot into sixth on the Aprilia RS-GP.
Espargaro sealed his place in Q2 after finishing second in Qualifying 1 earlier behind Miguel Oliveira, who will line up in 10th on the RNF Aprilia.
South African Brad Binder starts on the third row after qualifying seventh quickest, 0.713s down on Martin, with Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati) and Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez in eighth and ninth respectively.
Oliveira leads the fourth row with Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez and Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia) in 11th and 12th respectively.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo starts in 13th with Ducati test rider Michele Pirro and HRC test rider Stefan Bradl alongside him on Row 5.
Martin’s Pramac team-mate Johann Zarco continued to struggle and was down in 16th, while Australia’s Jack Miller was 18th on the Red Bull KTM, one place behind Augusto Fernandez on the satellite GasGas Tech 3 KTM.
Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) was 19th ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, while Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir was a lowly 22nd.
Pol Espargaro, who suffered his third spill of the weekend on the GasGas Tech 3 KTM in Q1, brought up the rear of the grid in 23rd.
Takumi Takahashi, filling in for still-injured Alex Rins on the LCR Honda, did not take part in qualifying and will miss both races after he was outside the 105 percent time bracket in practice.
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