MotoGP Valencia Vinales pole, Bagnaia second, Martin sixth

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In qualifying the Spaniard’s Aprilia is the fastest, but Pecco places himself behind him, ahead of Zarco: his rival for the title starts in the second row also behind the two KTMs

Massimo Brizzi

– Milan

The champion’s response. Pecco Bagnaia made up for a very difficult Friday in qualifying, taking second place on the starting grid of the GP of the Valencian Community, the last race of the season, behind the extraordinary Aprilia of poleman Maverick Vinales. Pecco, who has a 21 point lead over Jorge Martin in the World Championship, is good at moving through Q1, among other things with the best time, and then achieving a placing that puts him in a strong position for the two races at the Ricardo Tormo. His rival, the Spaniard from Ducati Pramac, will in fact only start from the sixth spot on the grid, ‘forced’ to change bikes in the final stages of Q2 to move onto the one with the hard front tire due to new problems with bouncing and imbalance with the tires . Already in the Sprint (3pm), you can bet that the tension will be very high.

Vinales record

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Vinales will therefore start in front of everyone, at great pace on the RS-GP and author of the new track record of 1:28.931 which earned him his first pole with the Noale manufacturer, interrupting a string of 15 consecutive starts for the Duacti. Bagnaia stops 92 thousandths behind him, using a single compound as best he can, and Johann Zarco, Martin’s partner, is third at 0.213. In the second row there are the KTMs of Jack Miller (+0.230) and Brad Binder (+0.240) ahead, as a disappointed Martin said. Third row for Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati VR46, 0.292); Alex Marquez (Ducati Gresini, 0.330), also passed from Q1; Marc Marquez (Honda +0.344). In fourth here is Raul Fernandez who precedes the winner from Qatar, Fabio Di Giannantonio (+0.579) and the other Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro (+0.866).

Too bad, the chance is there

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So do the other Italians: 14. Enea Bastianini (Ducati); 17. Luca Marini (Ducati VR46); 19. Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha) and 21. Luca Savadori (Aprilia RNF). At 3pm there is the Sprint Race: with positions identical to those on the starting grid, Bagnaia would be world champion. In the red team’s garage they can cross their fingers, but the start of this Saturday reversed the inertia of the weekend of the two challengers in just a few minutes.

motogp valencia qualification: the ranking

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The MotoGP qualifying standings in Valencia after Q2

  1. Maverick Vinales, Aprilia 1’28.931
  2. Pecco Bagnaia, Ducati +0.092
  3. Johann Zarco, Pramac Ducati +0.213
  4. Jack Miller, KTM +0.230
  5. Brad Binder, KTM +0.240
  6. Jorge Martin, Pramac Ducati +0.251
  7. Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Ducati +0.292
  8. Alex Marquez, Gresini Ducati +0.330
  9. Marc Marquez, Honda +0.344
  10. Raul Fernandez, RNF Aprilia +0.507
  11. Fabio Di Giannantonio, Gresini Ducati +0.579
  12. Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia +0.866

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