The World Champion stamped his authority on COTA with a record-breaking pole position as Martin starts from P12 with two crashes
Qualifying quickly came around at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, and as ever the premier class did not fail to entertain. The mind games were in full swing in Q2, but the number 1 plated Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) held strong to set a new lap record and take pole position at the Circuit of the Americas with a stunning 2:01.892. Alex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol) shocked the paddock as he flew the flag for Honda and secured the middle spot on the front row, with Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) lining up alongside him in P3.
And then there were two…
You could cut the tension with a knife at the Circuit of the Americas as several big hitters sat in their garages ready to compete for Q2 promotion. Only two could go through as Marco BezzecchI (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing), Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team), Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), and Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP™ Team) were set to do battle in Q1.
Marco Bezzecchi and Miguel Oliveira took the initial hold of the Q1 session and put themselves 1st and 2nd in the standings. Whilst Bezzecchi held strong at the top, fast laps came in from Morbidelli and Zarco who bumped Oliveira out of the 2nd Q2 spot with Morbidelli slotting himself in 3rd.
The riders returned to the pits and it was time for a change of rubber ready for the final fight for Q2 glory. Bezzecchi was looking strong on his first flyer setting the fastest first sector but pulled out the lap halfway around the lap. The Italian didn’t manage to improve on his 2:05.253, but it was no bother for the Italian as his flyer secured him a Q2 spot.
Joan Mir put in the first punch of run 2, and with just two-thousandths of a second in it, the Repsol Honda man snatched the final Q2 spot from underneath Zarco’s nose.
The flag was out and the red sector came flooding in with hot laps coming from Zarco and Morbidelli. Zarco put in an inch-perfect lap and delivered the fastest lap of the session when the pressure was on, pushing Bezzechi down to P2. With Zarco going top this knocked Mir out of Q2 with Morbidelli and Oliveira set to start the Tissot Sprint and Grand Prix from…