MotoGP, Bagnaia in pole position in America. Soon the sprint race

Pecco Bagnaia is the fastest at the end of qualifying for the Americas gp in Austin, the third round of the MotoGP world championship. The world champion Ducatista set the new record on the Texan track and managed to get the better of a shameless Alex Marquez, who evidently took a lot from his little brother Marc, in particular the habit of slipping in the slipstream of the best rider. However, Bagnaia was able to keep calm, get rid of the Catalan and take pole. Second time trial for Rins, the surprising Spaniard from Honda who feels like he’s in his own backyard on this circuit. The front row is completed by Luca Marini, Valentino’s brother, then Alex junior who precedes Marco Bezzecchi and Aleix Espargarò’s Aprilia. It’s the grid for the GP scheduled for tomorrow but also for the sprint race which will start tonight at 10 am Italian time: a race of just 10 laps instead of 20 on Sunday and with half the points up for grabs.

Bagnaia: “I didn’t think I’d go so fast”

“We knew the potential was high, but I wasn’t thinking of a time like this. We can also do better in the first part of the sector, however we did a very good job”, smiles Pecco, who gave an amazing display of power, clocking an impressive 2’01”892, a tenth and a half below Martin’s previous record . Above all, the Piedmontese was able to keep his nerve when Marquez stuck to his wheels like Gentile didn’t do on Maradona. “Alex is very strong here and a rival for success, I didn’t think I should give him a hand”, elegantly cut Pecco short.

Marini in the front row with the second bike

“Fortunately I was able to do a good lap with the second bike, but I was very angry about a crash in the third free practice session”, says Marini, who scored an interesting 3rd time with the Mooney Vr46 team Ducati. “You can see that someone is macumba at me, because it always happens in FP3”, jokes the Ducatista. “Starting from the front row is essential, I’ll try to stay as close to Pecco as possible”.

Fifth time for Bezzecchi, Quartararo third row

Second row and 6th time for a good Aleix Espargarò with the factory Aprilia. Quartararo partially redeemed himself in the final stages of Q2, hitting the 7th time: with his Yamaha he will start from the third row, ahead of the other RS-GP from Noale ridden by Vinales and Zarco’s Ducati Pramac. Morbidelli with the second M1 does no better than 14th place, sixth row for Di Giannantonio and Pirro.