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Rachit Thukral

MotoGP Indonesian GP: Marini crushes lap record to take pole, Bagnaia 13th

Having already set a new circuit record to get through Q1, VR46 rider Marini found yet more time in the final segment of qualifying as he became the first rider to break the 1m30s barrier with a time of 1m29.978s.

He beat Aprilia duo Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro, both of whom having been rapid all weekend on the factory RS-GP.

The two Aprilia riders were quick from the very beginning in Q2, with Vinales laying the first proper marker with a 1m30.598s before Espargaro went even quicker with a 1m30.501s.

When the second set of runs began, Espargaro posted a rapid time of 1m30.303s - fractionally quicker than Marini’s Q1 benchmark - before Vinales further showcased the pace of the Aprilia with a 1m30.009s.

But with just over two minutes left in the session, Marini ended the party of the Noale-based manufacturer, scoring his maiden premier class pole with the first-ever 1m29s lap at Mandalika.

Vinales was unable to go any faster at the end of the session and settled for second, while Espargaro solidified third position after improving to a 1m30.132s.

Fabio Quartararo took the best-of-the-rest spot in fourth on the factory Yamaha, albeit over half a second off pole, with Brad Binder another two tenths behind on the fastest KTM.

Pramac’s Jorge Martin, who goes into today’s sprint just three points behind Bagnaia, was unable to capitalise on his championship rival’s troubles and qualified a distant sixth, 0.764s off the pace.

Martin suffered a crash just four minutes in the session at Turn 16 and had to mount on his second bike, with his best effort of 1m30.742s only good enough for a spot on the outside of second row.

Fabio di Giannantonio qualified a solid seventh on the sole remaining Gresini bike ahead of Honda’s Marc Marquez, the rider who will replace him at the satellite Ducati team in 2024.

Marquez qualified almost nine tenths of the pace, just beating the VR46 Ducati of Marco Bezzecchi, who also suffered an early crash on his first Q2 run. 

KTM’s Jack Miller, returning Enea Bastianini on the Ducati and RNF Aprilia rider Miguel Oliveira rounded out the top 12.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Bagnaia will line up 13th on the grid, his worst starting position since Portugal last year when he crashed in Q1, after failing to progress into the second leg of qualifying.

The Ducati rider set a lap time of 1m30.626s on his second run, which provisionally put him second behind Marini, but he was knocked out by a late effort from team-mate Bastianinni.

Missing out on a Q2 spot by 0.099s, the Italian will head the fifth row of the grid, where he will be joined by Pramac’s Johann Zarco and the Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli.

Zarco narrowly beat Morbidelli for 14th despite suffering a crash at Turn 11 in the final minute of Q1.

Tech3 duo Pol Espargaro and Augusto Fernandez will start 16th and 18th respectively, separated by the RNF Aprilia of Raul Fernandez, while the field will be propped up by three Hondas, the factory RC213V of Joan Mir and the satellite bikes of LCR team-mates Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Rins.

MotoGP Indonesian GP - Qualifying results:

Q2 results:

 
 
         
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Italy L. Marini Team VR46 10 Ducati 5 1'29.978   172.442 313
2 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 8 +0.031 0.031 172.382 314
3 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 9 +0.154 0.123 172.147 313
4 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 9 +0.538 0.384 171.417 313
5 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 9 +0.720 0.182 171.073 315
6 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 7 +0.764 0.044 170.990 316
7 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing 49 Ducati 9 +0.788 0.024 170.945 310
8 Spain M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93 Honda 7 +0.886 0.098 170.760 313
9 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 6 +0.930 0.044 170.678 314
10 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 8 +0.992 0.062 170.561 313
11 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 7 +1.083 0.091 170.391 313
12 Portugal M. Oliveira RNF Racing 88 Aprilia 8 +1.215 0.132 170.144 315

Q1 results:
 

 
 
         
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Italy L. Marini Team VR46 10 Ducati 9 1'30.383   171.669 314
2 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 9 +0.144 0.144 171.396 313
3 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 9 +0.243 0.099 171.209 316
4 France J. Zarco Pramac Racing 5 Ducati 6 +0.330 0.087 171.044 316
5 Italy F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing 21 Yamaha 9 +0.346 0.016 171.014 311
6 Spain P. Espargaro Tech 3 44 KTM 9 +0.623 0.277 170.494 314
7 Spain R. Fernández RNF Racing 25 Aprilia 9 +0.648 0.025 170.447 311
8 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 9 +0.651 0.003 170.441 311
9 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 9 +0.760 0.109 170.237 312
10 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 9 +0.809 0.049 170.146 309
11 Spain A. Rins Team LCR 42 Honda 9 +1.075 0.266 169.651 307
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