The Aprilia rider secures his second consecutive pole—his fifth of the season—while setting a new track record. Alex Marquez is second. Pedro Acosta is fifth. Pecco is furious—here’s what happened to his bike

Not even a mistake at the start of his run could stop Marco Bezzecchi during qualifying for the Valencia GP. The Aprilia rider secured his fifth pole of the season with an exceptional time of 1’28”809. It’s the new MotoGP track record for the Spanish circuit. The Ricardo Tormo Circuit is a tightly contested track: just consider that the Italian finished ahead of four other riders by less than a tenth of a second. Among them, however, was not Francesco Bagnaia. The three-time world champion was sidelined by a technical issue on his Ducati late in Q1, dashing his chances of advancing to the next round. Pecco will start from 16th on the grid.

Bezzecchi made a mistake on his first attempt but redeemed himself by setting an incredible lap that beat Alex Marquez’s excellent time by just 26 thousandths. The Spaniard from the Gresini Ducati team will start alongside his teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio (+0.044). The second row is led by Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia), fourth at 58 thousandths and the fastest among the riders who advanced from Q1. He is followed by Pedro Acosta in fifth. The KTM rider, 96 thousandths behind the pole-sitter, hopes to redeem himself during the races. Fabio Quartararo set the sixth-fastest time on his Yamaha. The third row is filled by Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati), Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha), and Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati). Joan Mir (Honda) is tenth, ahead of Johann Zarco, who advanced from Q1. Ai Ogura is twelfth.

DISAPPOINTMENT—  As previously mentioned, it was a disastrous qualifying session for Bagnaia. Returning to the pits dejected, Pecco complained of an issue that left his Ducati out of gas. Under the watchful eye of Marc Marquez, watching from the pit wall, the Italian failed to advance to Q2 for the fourth time in the last nine Grand Prix races. Joining him on the grid will be Jorge Martin, who qualified 17th. Enea Bastianini will start from 20th on the grid, two positions ahead of Nicolò Bulega.
The starting grid—  Here’s how the grid will look for the Sprint and Grand Prix in Valencia:

1 Bezzecchi (Ita/Aprilia); A. Marquez (Spa/Gresini Ducati); Di Giannantonio (Ita/VR46 Ducati)

2 R. Fernandez (Spa/Trackhouse Aprilia); Acosta (Spa/KTM); Quartararo (Fra/Yamaha)

3 Morbidelli (Ita/VR46 Ducati); Miller (Aus/Pramac Yamaha); Aldeguer (Spa/Gresini Ducati)

4 Mir (Spa/Honda); Zarco (Fra/LCR Honda); Ogura (Jap/Trackhouse Aprilia)

5 Marini (Ita/Honda); A. Espargaro (Spa/Honda); Binder (South Africa/KTM)

6 Bagnaia (Italy/Ducati); Martin (Spain/Aprilia); Oliveira (Portugal/Pramac Yamaha)

7 Rins (Spain/Yamaha); Bastianini (Italy/Tech3 KTM); Viñales (Spain/Tech3 KTM)

8 Bulega (ITA/Ducati); A. Fernandez (ESP/Yamaha); Chantra (THA/LCR Honda)