Bagnaia claims Emilia-Romagna pole, Binder fourth

Francesco Bagnaia claimed pole position at the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP on Saturday, giving himself a chance to further chop Jorge Martin's slim lead in the riders' championship.

Reigning world champion Bagnaia posted a stunning best lap time of one minute, 30.031 seconds in Misano Adriatico, 0.214sec ahead of Martin who has a seven-point advantage on his Italian rival in the championship.

The Ducati rider bettered his own record set during practice at his home circuit on Friday by 0.255sec to ensure his third pole of the season.

"It's a shame I couldn't get to 29 seconds... but I'm happy with the pole which is the most important thing," said Bagnaia to Sky in Italy.

"We'll be the two fastest, it will be crucial to start well today and tomorrow. Unfortunately my starts in the qualifying haven't been all that great so we'll need to improve some things."

Pramac's Martin will start the Grand Prix and Saturday's sprint race on the front row alongside Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini who trails by 62 points in the championship.

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

1️⃣ Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) 📸 POLE - 1:30.031*

2️⃣ Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) - +0.214s

3️⃣ Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) - +0.533s

*New Lap Record#Qualifying #EmiliaRomagnaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/1vSe122ljZ
— RaceGear NG™️ (@RaceGearNG) September 21, 2024

"We're both at an incredible level of performance, we're the two best riders in the MotoGP right now and I'm happy," Martin added to Sky.

"I've managed to improve on the qualifying from two weeks ago. Lets see if we can get the victory."

Marc Marquez, who will join Bagnaia at Ducati's factory team next season, slid off the track as he did in the earlier practice session and could only manage seventh in the grid.

Six-time MotoGP champion Marquez is 53 points behind his fellow Spaniard Martin in the standings after winning the last two GPs and the sprint in Aragon.

The first points of the weekend will be up for grabs in the sprint which starts at 1500 (1300 GMT).

STARTING GRID:

Front row:

Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati), Jorge Martin (ESP/Ducati-Pramac), Enea Bastianini (ITA/Ducati)

2nd row:

Brad Binder (RSA/KTM), Pedro Acosta (ESP/GasGaS-Tech3), Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46)

3rd row:

Marc Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini), Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia), Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha)

4th row:

Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Ducati-Pramac), Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia), Miguel Oliveira (POR/Aprilia-Trackhouse)

5th row:

Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA/Ducati-VR46), Raul Fernandez (ESP/Aprilia-Trackhouse), Luca Marini (ITA/Honda)