Bagnaia breaks Qatar’s lap record for pole position in MotoGP opener

Francesco Bagnaia when he competed for the SKY VR46 team in 2018.

Francesco Bagnaia broke into his first MotoGP pole on his factory Ducati motorcycle at the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix, breaking the lap record twice in the process at the Losail Circuit on Saturday (March 27).

Bagnaia will start alongside Fabio Quartararo’s and Maverick Vinales’ Yamahas in the front row, while Petronas Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi narrowly missed to start fourth.

Bagnaia set the pace early in the second qualifying session when he set a lap record after taking advantage of the slip behind Rossi.

Quartararo broke the record again on his Yamaha debut, but Bagnaia regained pole position on his second attempt, becoming the first rider to break the 53-minute barrier with a time of 1min52.772.

“I’m very happy, already yesterday I thought it was possible to finish in 1:52 and I thought it was possible after the third sector,” said a beaming Bagnaia in the pit lane after qualifying.

“My first pole in my first race with this team … I think we can get a great result tomorrow.”

Bagnaia’s teammate Jack Miller, who topped the time charts in pre-season testing and unofficially broke the lap record, will start fifth on the grid alongside Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) in sixth place.

Zarco previously set a new top speed record in Free Practice 4 when he clocked 362.4 km / h.

Defending world champion Joan Mir was only able to take tenth place, one place behind his Suzuki teammate Alex Rins, while Pol Espargaró starts 12th on the grid on his Honda debut. SA’s Brad Binder starts from the 19th on Sunday, while his brother Darryn Binder starts from pole in the Moto3 race.

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