Ahead of the weekend, Ducati announced it would not be running full 2022-spec engines in the bikes of Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia, as the Pramac riders remained with the 2022 motor.
But Martin made the full 2022 package work in a scintillating opening qualifying of the season to snatch his fifth MotoGP pole.
Marc Marquez came straight out of the blocks with a 1m53.566s on his factory Honda on his opening lap, the Spaniard ducking out of Joan Mir’s slipstream on the straight to take over top spot.
Jack Miller edged ahead of Marquez with a 1m53.411s on his factory Ducati fitted with the hybrid 2021/2022 engine, with Honda’s Pol Espargaro trailing him by 0.096 seconds.
Forced into running a medium rear on his first lap having had to come through Q1, reigning world champion Quartararo was ninth at the end of his opening run – while Mir was shuffled back to 11th after having a lap cancelled for exceeding track limits.
Getting a tow from Bagnaia on his second run, Marquez…
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