Ducati’s “beast” prevailed in the intense and twisty qualifying session of the Portuguese GP.
His qualifying tests Porogalia GP for MotoGP World Championship they had him as the protagonist Neea Bastianini of the factory Ducati Lenovo, who showed that his lead on Friday at Portimao, the track where he suffered a serious injury last year and took a long time to recover from, was no fluke. The Italian rider will start from pole position in both today’s sprint and Sunday’s grand prix. The races will start from second place Maverick Vinales her Aprilia and from the third o Jorge Martin with the Pramac Ducati.
BEAST MODE ON! ???? @Bestia23 is back on pole for the first time since the 2022 #AustrianGP ????#PortugueseGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/FBGqwJSjPi
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) March 23, 2024
Q1
The first leg of qualifying in Portimao gathered much of the day’s interest as it featured several names that we would ‘normally’ expect to see in Q2. Among them were the formidable rookie Pedro Acosta of GasGas, Alex Marquez of Gresini Ducati and the Aprilias of the factory team’s Aleix Espargaro and local hero Miguel Oliveira of Trackhouse.
In the first attempt of the riders, those who stood out were Acosta and Alex Marquez, who occupied the two privileged positions with a very small difference between them, which was only 12 thousandths of a second, and with A. Espargaro following in 3rd place, in front by Oliveira.
Job done for these 2! ????@alexmarquez73 & @37_pedroacostasee you in Q2 in just a few minutes ????#PortugueseGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/8UwOowxSXJ
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) March 23, 2024
But everyone returned to their garages, put on fresh tires and made a second attempt. Although almost everyone improved their times, the “winning pair” remained the same, only this time Alex Marquez was 5 milliseconds faster than Pedro Acosta. These two secured tickets to Q2, with Espargaro staying in 3rd and starting today’s Sprint and tomorrow’s race from 13th.
Q2
The time for the second leg has arrived, the predictions are all up in the air and with many riders from different teams showing that they have the potential to challenge for pole position. One of the favourites, Mark Marcheth, crashed in his first attempt and was out of contention. He was not injured though and returned to the Gresini garage to get his second motorcycle. Another favorite, Brad Binder with KTM, also fell.
???? @marcmarquez93 crashes out at T15!
But he’s already on his way back ????#PortugueseGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/tRkMLjKi7x
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) March 23, 2024
Peko Banaia had no such problems and after the first attempt he was at the top of the time table, ahead of Jack Miller. Jorge Martin had set a time very close to Banaia but was disqualified due to a track boundary violation. Bastianini also completed his first attempt without time, while Acosta and A. Marquez did not go out on the track because they only had a fresh soft tire at their disposal.
So with only half (six) timed, the second quick try at the end of 15 minutes was very important and would decide everything. And indeed it did, as pole position went to Ennea Bastianini, who showed his speed in yesterday’s timed session. Second was Maverick Viñales with Aprilia and the first row of the start was completed by Jorge Martin. Banaia will start from 4th place, followed by Miller, Bezeky, Acosta, Mark Marquez, Quartararo, Binder, Rins and Alex Marquez.
The Beast is back on pole with a bang! ????
Fastest on Friday and fastest on Saturday morning ✅#PortugueseGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/a7MMZsKnW0
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) March 23, 2024
The Sprint race will start at 17:00 Greek time.
Results Q1
Results Q2
Photo: Ducati