Bezzecchi beats Marc Márquez to Qatar MotoGP pole with Lusail lap record

News Summary

• Marco Bezzecchi set a new outright Lusail lap record of 1:50.028 to put Aprilia on pole for both the Qatar MotoGP sprint and Grand Prix.
• Marc Márquez qualified second and Fabio Di Giannantonio third. Jorge Martín starts 11th, nine places behind the championship leader.
• Fermín Aldeguer and Pedro Acosta advanced from Q1 to qualify ninth and eighth respectively. Diogo Moreira starts 16th, one place ahead of Jake Dixon.

Marco Bezzecchi broke the Lusail lap record twice in Q2 to take pole for the Qatar Grand Prix. The Aprilia rider’s final 1:50.028 put him 0.266s clear of Marc Márquez, who had briefly held the record himself at the start of the session.

Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the front row with a 1:50.327, just 0.033s behind Márquez. The VR46 rider’s lap was quicker than the 1:50.406 outright record he set on Friday evening, but by then the benchmark had moved on three times.

Bezzecchi’s fifth pole of the season gives him the first slot on the grid for both the 11-lap sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix. Márquez starts beside him, while Jorge Martín lines up on the fourth row after qualifying 11th.

Bezzecchi carries Aprilia’s FP2 pace into qualifying

Saturday’s first session offered an early sign of Aprilia’s speed. Márquez led much of FP2 and set his eventual best on a medium rear tyre. Bezzecchi went the other way with his tyre choice, switching to a soft rear and setting a 1:51.571 in the final minutes.

The three other Aprilias followed him. Trackhouse riders Raúl Fernández and Ai Ogura were second and third, with Martín fourth and Márquez fifth. Qualifying took place in the heat of the afternoon, with the air at 35°C and the track at 44°C at the start of MotoGP running.

Q2 began with Brad Binder going into the gravel at Turn 1 before the first competitive times came in. Márquez then set a 1:50.361, taking 0.045s off Di Giannantonio’s Friday record. Bezzecchi answered with a 1:50.065, nearly three tenths quicker than the Ducati.

Márquez improved to 1:50.294 on his final run. Bezzecchi found another 0.037s on his own benchmark to seal pole, while Di Giannantonio moved within three hundredths of the factory Ducati.

Fernández qualified fourth, with Francesco Bagnaia and Ogura joining him on row two. Ogura was just 0.004s behind Bagnaia, giving Aprilia three of the first six grid slots.

Aldeguer and Acosta come through Q1

Acosta set the early Q1 benchmark and lowered it to 1:51.143 before the riders returned to the pits for their final runs. Aldeguer, who had already lost a lap to track limits at Turn 15, came back out and put his Gresini Ducati first with a 1:50.876.

Acosta improved to 1:51.087 on his final lap to secure the second transfer spot. He then qualified eighth in Q2, one place ahead of Aldeguer. Johann Zarco, the only Honda rider in Q2, qualified seventh.

Franco Morbidelli missed the Q1 cut by 0.184s and starts 13th, followed by Luca Marini and Iker Lecuona. Moreira finished sixth in Q1 with a 1:51.504, placing him 16th on the grid. Dixon qualified 17th on his first MotoGP appearance for Honda, ahead of Maverick Viñales.

Martín has ground to make up from 11th

Martín had earned a direct place in Q2 on his return from a fractured wrist. His 1:51.064 in qualifying left him 1.036s off pole and 0.063s behind Enea Bastianini, who took the final place on row three.

Márquez starts the sprint 44 points ahead of Martín and 67 clear of Bezzecchi. He cannot clinch the championship on Saturday. Martín can guarantee the title fight goes to Portugal by scoring 8 points across the weekend, even if Márquez wins both races.

The Qatar MotoGP sprint starts at 19:00 in Lusail, 16:00 GMT, 11:00 EST and 21:30 IST on Saturday. Sunday’s Grand Prix is scheduled for the same local start time.

2026 Qatar MotoGP qualifying results and starting grid

Qualifying order for the sprint and Grand Prix, subject to any subsequent grid changes. The gap column compares each rider’s qualifying time with pole. Riders eliminated in Q1 start behind the Q2 qualifiers.

GRANDE PRÊMIO is following every session of the Qatar Grand Prix in MotoGP.