Magnificent seven: Marc Marquez motors to record Aragon pole
Words and images courtesy of MotoGP
The #93 is joined on the front row by Alex Marquez and Morbidelli. All eyes now turn to the gold medal contest at MotorLand.
Was it ever in any doubt? Not really. MotorLand Aragon specialist Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) set a new all-time lap record to fend off the challenge of brother and title rival Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP). He clinched his seventh Aragon pole position. That 1:45.704 was 0.260s quicker than the #73’s best effort. Meanwhile, Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) earned a first front row start of 2025. He also sat within three tenths of the World Championship leader.
Q1 – Drama unfolds for Bezzecchi and Aprilia
The opening qualifying session was brimming with some recent big hitters, including British GP winner Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing). It was the worst possible start to Q1 for the Italian. On his first hot lap, Bezzecchi crashed at Turn 2, increasing the pressure in the Noale factory garage.
At the end of the first runs, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) topped the timesheets with a 1:47.078. He was 0.021s ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team). Meanwhile, Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was 0.052s away from the top two in P3.
Things weren’t going according to plan for Aprilia and Bezzecchi. The Silverstone winner was experiencing issues on his second bike. After heading back out, Bezzecchi was straight back into the box. Meanwhile, there were no such problems for Quartararo, who landed a brilliant 1:46.631 to extend his advantage at the summit. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) leapt to P2 shortly after, going just 0.080s shy of the Yamaha star. Then Di Giannantonio responded to go P1 by 0.021s.
How was Bezzecchi doing? Well, he was on a flying lap. However, it was nowhere near close enough to threatening the top two, unfortunately. The #72 was P10, 1.074s off P1, as Di Giannantonio and Quartararo entered the Q2 shootout.
Q2 – A magnificent seventh
So, could anyone stop Marc Marquez from striding to pole position? If the opening laps were anything to go by, the answer was no. A scorching 1:45.986 was fired in from the #93 to go 0.437s clear of Alex Marquez. However, the latter closed the gap on his second flyer, going 0.221s behind his title rival.
A pair of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machines were sitting in provisional P3 and P4. Pedro Acosta led Brad Binder, as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) struggled to get going on the opening stint. A huge moment came on the entry into Turn 8, ruining his second fast lap. The Italian sat P11 ahead of a final qualifying attack.
Bagnaia wasn’t hanging around in the box for long. On his opening lap on fresh rubber, the double MotoGP World Champion climbed to P4 to split the factory KTMs. Attention then turned to a rapid Alex Marquez. The #73 was 0.079s under Marc’s time through the third split. Across the line, the Gresini star grabbed P1 by 0.020s.
Morbiddelli also beat Marc Marquez’s time to go P2. So, what answer did Marc Marquez have in response? He was pushing hard. Through the third split, he was 0.193s under Alex’s time despite a couple of moments.
And despite some rear-end twitches in the final split, Marc Marquez muscled his way back to pole position by a healthy 0.260s. He achieved that with a new all-time lap record. But we weren’t done yet. Through Sector 3 on his final attempt, Morbidelli was just 0.026s away from Marquez’s best, but it all went away in the last sector. With Morbidelli and Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) completing their last laps, that was all she wrote for Q2 in Aragon.
Your top 12 on the Aragon grid
Bagnaia gained more time on his penultimate lap to spearhead Row 2 for the Aragon GP. He had Acosta and Binder lining up alongside the Bologna bullet. It was a good session for the Austrian factory to cement P5 and P6. Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) is seventh. He has Viñales and Quartararo for company on the third row. Meanwhile, Di Giannantonio, Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol), and Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) complete the top 12 on the fourth row.
Coming up: the Tissot Sprint
Can anyone halt Marc Marquez’s charge to a gold medal in Aragon?
We’ll find out at 15:00 local time!