Raul Fernandez has taken his first MotoGP pole position and will start from pole position at the Indonesian Grand Prix. The Spanish Aprilia Trackhouse rider clocked a time of 1:28.852 in qualifying at the “Mandalica“ track.
Fernandez was 0.109 seconds ahead of Marco Bedzecki, who had been fastest after the first few laps. The Aprilia factory rider failed to improve his result in the second heat and finished second. Fabio Di Giannantonio took third place, 0.196 seconds behind.
Third place holds special significance for Di Giannantonio, who is celebrating his 28th birthday. He will start from the front row alongside Fernandez and Bedszeki.
World champion Marc Marquez qualified fourth, while overall leader Jorge Martin remained fifth. Next to Martin on the second row will be Fermin Aldeguer, winner of last year's “Mandalica“.
Marquez ahead of Martin in the battle for the top spots
Ai Ogura, Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta will form the third starting row. Francesco Banaia, Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo will start from the fourth row.
Aldeguer won the first qualifying phase with a time of 1:29.639, while Ogura finished second, 0.090 seconds behind. The two went on to a decisive 15-minute battle for pole position. Alex Rins finished first out of Q2, 0.105 seconds behind Ogura, and will head the fifth row ahead of Enea Bastianini and Luca Marini.
The sixth row will be occupied by Brad Binder, Jack Miller and Maverick Viñales. Toprak Razgatlioglu, Yohan Zarco and Diogo Moreira will start from the seventh row, with Aleix Espargaro alone on the last.
Razgatlioglu took part in qualifying after dislocating his right shoulder in a heavy highside in the second free practice. Ogura, Bastianini, Miller, Zarco and Moreira also crashed out in Q1, with Zarco suffering two crashes.
„First pole position in MotoGP. Fantastic, Raul Fernandez“, wrote MotoGP after qualifying.The Indonesian Grand Prix is the 17th round of the MotoGP season. The weekend continues with the sprint at “Mandalica“, which is scheduled for 10:00 Bulgarian time and will be in 13 laps.
Sources: sportal.bg, motorsport.com, crash.net