Moto2: Bagnaia makes it two from two at home

Francesco Bagnaia sealed his first back-to-back pole positions in Grand Prix racing at the San Marino Grand Prix after setting an unmatchable 1:37.121, with Marcel Schrötter 0.210 back in second, sandwiched between two Italians on the front row as Mattia Pasini secured third for Sunday’s race, 0.295 back from his compatriots’ benchmark.

With the track in optimum condition after the premier class qualifying sessions, it didn’t take long for home favourite Bagnaia to grab the top spot, displacing then provisional pole man Pasini by 0.244 seconds, a time he would then beat himself, allowing him to go on and claim his fifth pole position of the season. The Italian duo were then split by Schrötter, who got the better of Pasini’s time by 0.085 to earn his fourth front row start of the season and his first since Assen.

Behind Pasini on track and one place behind him on the gird was fourth place Fabio Quartararo, 0.124 from the front row and the only other rider to get within half a second of Bagnaia on Saturday afternoon. Lining up alongside the Frenchman is Brad Binder, who propelled himself into the middle of the second row on his final lap, with Jorge Navarro sixth after briefly leading the leading qualifying in the opening minutes.

Working in tandem with his teammate, Luca Marini will start him home GP from seventh after missing out on the second row by 0.013 seconds, with Alex Marquez and second in the Championship Miguel Oliveira joining him on the third row of the grid in eighth and ninth respectively, despite the latter suffering a small crash at turn four in the session as he chased a time that could bring him closer to title rival Bagnaia on the grid.

Joan Mir, Dynavolt Intact GP’s Xavi Vierge and Augusto Fernandez in P10, P11 and P12 make it an all-Spanish fourth row in Misano.