MotoGP: Here's The Grid After Saturday Qualifying in Portugal
Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) grabbed pole for the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Portugal with a 1:37.556 in a relentless MotoGP Q2 that sees Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) earn a first front row start of the season in P2. Third place went the way of Q1 graduate Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who once again pulls a rabbit out of the hat in qualifying trim.
Quartararo and Miller grab Q2 spots
The first reference lap time in the dry but tricky conditions was set by Quartararo, a 1:40.031, but that was soon bettered by El Diablo himself. Three riders found themselves in the 1:39 bracket, those were the Frenchman, second place Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and third fastest Nicolo Bulega (Ducati Lenovo Team).
With two minutes to go, Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) shot to P1 by less than a tenth, but red sector times were everywhere as track conditions improved. Quartararo returned the favour to beat Marini’s time by three tenths and shadowing his Yamaha stablemate, Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) promoted himself into P2. And with no more personal or session best times inbound after that flurry of times, the Yamaha duo did enough to sail into Q2.
