Aleix Espargaro secured pole position for Aprilia at the British Grand Prix, outperforming the factory Ducati MotoGP riders, Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini.
In an impressive final lap of 1m57.309s during qualifying’s closing moments, Espargaro capitalized on late misfortunes for Bagnaia and Bastianini to position himself favorably for a potential repeat of his 2023 Grand Prix victory.
Jorge Martin qualified fourth with the Pramac Ducati, while Marc Marquez finished in seventh aboard his year-old Gresini GP23.
As Q2 commenced, Bagnaia quickly began to dominate the timesheets, breaking the 1m58s threshold on his initial laps before obliterating the lap record with a 1m57.517s on his next attempt.
Bastianini positioned himself in a provisional 1-2 alongside Bagnaia with a lap of 1m57.693s. Meanwhile, Martin, who had topped the timing sheets in earlier sessions, landed third on the Pramac-entered GP24 after losing time in the final sector.
Espargaro was in fourth place after the initial laps, trailing the three Ducatis ahead of him by a slight yet crucial margin.
The second runs for the Ducati pair proved challenging. Bagnaia had to discard a flying lap when debris obstructed his visor, and TV footage later showed Bastianini easing off and allowing other riders to overtake.
Marquez shared a similar plight, appearing visibly irritated as he struggled with the two VR46 GP23s ahead, which were obstructing his progress.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
These events enabled Espargaro to surpass the Ducati riders and secure his first pole position of the season, finishing two tenths ahead of Bagnaia, who could not improve his time on his last attempt.
Bastianini and Martin rounded out the top four but were unable to match their earlier lap times.
Alex Marquez climbed to fifth on his Gresini bike, outperforming KTM’s top rider, Brad Binder, as well as his brother Marc, who finished seventh.
Maverick Vinales crashed at Farm corner late in the session, settling for eighth, while Pedro Acosta advanced from Q1 to qualify ninth for Tech3 GasGas.
Fabio di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi from VR46 appeared off the pace, ending up in 10th and 12th, separated by Jack Miller’s second factory KTM, who struggled to replicate his Friday practice pace.
In Q1, Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli and Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira were closely matched, qualifying 13th, 14th, and 15th respectively.
LCR’s Johann Zarco led Honda’s unofficial ‘Japanese Cup’ with a 15th place finish, two spots ahead of Yamaha’s top rider, Fabio Quartararo.
Remy Gardner, filling in for the injured Alex Rins, ended up in the last position, 22nd.
