Jorge Martin doubled down on his status as hot favourite for Indonesian Grand Prix victory by blowing his rivals away en route to a sixth pole position of the MotoGP season at Mandalika.
The Pramac Ducati rider was in a class of his own after turning in a stunning lap record-breaking benchmark of 1m 29.088s.
Earning him a huge half-second margin over his nearest rival, his performance was made all the more impressive given the frequent appearance of yellow flags conspiring to ruin dozens of fast laps at critical stages.
The most pivotal of these would come late on as a consequence of Marco Bezzecchi falling at Turn 16, the Italian’s tip-off wreaking havoc on the best efforts of Ducati counterparts Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini just behind.
Despite this, it was Bezzecchi – having remounted and gotten back to the line with seconds to spare – that would ironically emerge as the big winner from his own error, the VR46 Racing rider going on to launch himself onto the front row in second.
Bezzecchi’s gritty last-lap effort would prove enough to displace Pedro Acosta down to third, though it remained an impressive showing by the rookie as the only KTM rider to qualify inside the top fifteen.
A disgruntled Bagnaia and Bastianini therefore made do with fourth and fifth respectively, the factory Ducati pair well-placed to challenge from the second row but no doubt wary of Martin’s huge advantage at the top of the timesheets.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo consolidated his strong showing on Friday to book a spot on row two in sixth place, his fine result overshadowed only by the efforts of Johann Zarco heading up the third row.
The second time this season a Honda rider has made it into Q2, the Frenchman – having progressed from Q1 – maintained his momentum to place the LCR machine seventh, ahead of VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio and Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli in eighth and ninth respectively.
Aprilia riders Maverick Vinales and Raul Fernandez make up two-thirds of row four in tenth and 11th, the pair joined by a hapless Marc Marquez, who wound up 12th after failing to set a time. The Gresini Ducati rider fell victim to two crashes, his first occurring at Turn 15 before another at Turn 10 put him out entirely.
With Zarco and Fernandez progressing from Q1, there was disappointment for several high-profile riders further down the grid, not least Aleix Espargaro and Alex Marquez, who scuppered their opportunities by each…
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