Bastianini claims pole from Vinales, Marquez crashes

Having topped Friday’s running at the Algarve International Circuit, Bastianini carried that into Saturday to take a first pole since Austria 2022 with a 1m37.706s.

The five-time grand prix winner fended off a late charge from Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales to take pole by just 0.082 seconds, while Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin completed the front row.

Reigning world champion and current points leader Francesco Bagnaia will start fourth, while Gresini Ducati’s Marc Marquez was eighth after suffering a scary crash at the final corner early on.

The 2023 Portugal poleman lost the front on the way into the fast downhill right at Turn 15 at the start of the 15-minute Q2 session and bounced through the gravel.

Unscathed in the incident, Marquez was able to get back to his Gresini garage for new riding gear and his second bike, but struggled on his second run.

The #93, who was third at the end of Friday’s running, could only manage a 1m38.147s to qualify down in eighth in a session he was expected to be a pole threat.

Vinales set the early pace in Q2 with a 1m38.214s before Bagnaia moved to the top of the timesheets with a 1m37.942s on his factory Ducati with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Martin trailed him in second by 0.004s, but had that lap cancelled after exceeding track limits exiting the final corner on that lap.

After the first half of the session, only six riders had registered a lap time.

As the second runs began, Martin took over at the head of the pack with a 1m37.812s, but seconds later ceded pole to Bastianini with a 1m37.706s.

Vinales, who was the only Aprilia in Q2 after both Trackhouse riders Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez and the sister factory Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro failed to get out of Q1, set the timing screens alight on his last lap.

But he couldn’t quite convert that pace as the lap came to an end, with the Spaniard having to settle for second by 0.082s, with Martin a further 0.024s adrift.

Bagnaia heads row two from KTM’s Jack Miller and VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi, who has seemingly made a breakthrough on the GP23 he struggled on in Qatar.

Pedro Acosta came through Q1 to qualify seventh on his Tech3 GasGas ahead of Marc Marquez, while Fabio Quartararo was ninth on the leading Yamaha.

A crash for Brad Binder moments after Marc Marquez’s tumble left the KTM rider down in 10th, with Alex Rins (Yamaha)…