Marco Bezzecchi once again proved his mettle at Misano. The Aprilia Racing rider obliterated the lap record to claim his second consecutive pole position of the 2026 MotoGP season at the San Marino Grand Prix on Saturday.
With a stunning time of 1m29.982s, Bezzecchi became the first rider in history to break the 90-second barrier at the Marco Simoncelli Circuit. He beat reigning champion Marc Marquez by almost two tenths of a second.
Gresini's Fermin Aldeguer completed the front row after coming through Q1, with VR46's Fabio di Giannantonio in fourth. The Q2 session was dramatic from the start. Alex Marquez set the early benchmark, but crashed at Turn 8 while trail braking on his Gresini Ducati.
Minutes later, di Giannantonio briefly took the top spot with a 1m30.504s. But Bezzecchi then produced a sensational lap that changed history. After the first runs, he was 0.467s ahead of di Giannantonio, with Marc Marquez a further half a tenth behind in third.
On the second runs, the Ducati rivals pushed hard, but Bezzecchi remained untouchable. He secured his fourth pole of the season by 0.198s. Marc Marquez came closest, improving to 1m30.180s for second, ahead of Aldeguer in third.
Di Giannantonio could only find half a tenth and had to settle for fourth. Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia) qualified a solid fifth after struggling in practice. Luca Marini impressed on the factory Honda in sixth, followed by Pedro Acosta and Franco Morbidelli in eighth.
Alex Marquez suffered two crashes in qualifying, the second at Turn 4 leaving him ninth. Trackhouse's Raul Fernandez struggled to match the factory Aprilias and ended up 10th. Johann Zarco (LCR) and Pol Espargaro (Tech3) completed the top 12, though Zarco is under investigation for allegedly impeding Bezzecchi.
Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo was bumped out of Q2 by Aldeguer and will start 13th. Francesco Bagnaia had a disappointing home qualifying in 14th, and was seen hitting his factory Ducati in frustration. Diogo Moreira (LCR) and Joan Mir (Honda) finished 15th and 17th, separated by Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM). Jack Miller (Pramac) and Brad Binder (KTM) followed, while Alex Rins (Yamaha) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac) propped up the field.
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Marco Bezzecchi breaks Misano lap record to take MotoGP San Marino pole, beating Marc Marquez. Full qualifying results and reaction.
Marc Marquez steals the top spot in FP2 at the San Marino MotoGP after snatching P1 from the Aprilias on the final lap. Full results here.
Marc Marquez leads San Marino MotoGP 2026 free practice at Misano, edging out Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi in a tight session.
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