Bagnaia fights back to claim P2, Martin on Row 2, Viñales takes pole

The title pendulum has swung back towards the red corner as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) comes through Q1 to claim a crucial P2 in Q2 at the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana, as Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) gets set to launch from the outside of Row 2 in P6. Meanwhile, Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) will be on pole after claiming his first Saturday P1 for the Noale factory, with Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) completing the top three. Now, a tense and potentially title-deciding Tissot Sprint awaits at 15:00 local time (GMT+1). 

The Champion's first hurdle 

You could cut the tension with a knife as the bikes left the pitlane ahead of Qualifying 1. All eyes were on the factory Ducati of Bagnaia who desperately needed to stamp his authority and bag himself a place in Q2 for a chance of putting himself in contention for a solid result ahead of his first match point in the Tissot Sprint.  

The Champion cracked on and proceeded to put the hammer down with full focus on topping the pile. Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) was enough of a distance behind to use the Italian as a marker up ahead of him, and it was Marquez who went top after the first run of laps as Bagnaia came back into the pitlane just 0.015s behind the Spaniard and 0.022s faster than third fastest Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3).  

Bagnaia moved the goalposts on the first lap of his 2nd run as they neared closer to breaking the 1:29 barrier. The Italian equalled the fastest time from Friday practice but was going even faster his next lap as he proceeded to set the fastest lap of the weekend, and a provisional all-time-lap record to consolidate himself a place in Q2. No one could beat the 1:29.054 set by the number 1 as Alex Marquez joined the Italian in the top two.  

Now or never in Q2 

The final - and biggest - Q2 session of the year then went green. Pecco vs Martin, it was all about who could qualify higher in Valencia. 

Nothing came of Bagnaia's first stint as Martin had the early advantage in Q2. But that would all change once the second set of soft tyres had been slotted in. Bagnaia found himself in a clear bit of space and set two consecutive pole position lap times to put the pressure on Martin, who was struggling to string a full, clean lap together. 

Martin had Marc Marquez for company and the duo nearly made contact on the exit of Turn 8. Martin was clearly struggling to hook his GP23 Ducati up for a whole lap and just after the #93 had crashed behind him at Turn 2, Martin made a mistake on the exit of Turn 4. It was a small one, but it was enough to ruin his lap. And that was that for Martin's pole position attempt. 

Viñales left it late to snatch pole position from Bagnaia, but all that mattered to the factory Ducati rider was that he's stuck it on the front row. A huge result for Pecco, especially with Martin having to settle for P6.

Sights locked from row two 

Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) took a very positive fourth place ahead of his teammate Brad Binder, with the latter crashing late on unhurt. The #33 has a hungry Martin alongside him on Row 2. 

Heading Row 3 will be Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) who was just 0.292s shy of the pole time in P7. The Italian will be joined by both Marquez brothers as Alex took P8, with Marc set to start his final Grand Prix with Honda in P9. Raul Fernandez (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP™), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) will launch from P10, P11 and P12 respectively. 

Next up: the Tissot Sprint. Will the title be decided on Saturday afternoon? Find out at 15:00. 

Top 10