Americas MotoGP | Bagnaia pips Quartararo for third consecutive pole

Pecco Bagnaia has secured his third consecutive MotoGP pole position for the Grand Prix of The Americas at COTA as second for Fabio Quartararo set up a tantalising battle between the two title contenders.

The Italian is arriving in the United States on a run of strong form after wins at Aragon and Misano, results tha have kept him within touching distance of hot favourite Quartararo in the title fight.

With both of those wins achieved from pole position, Bagnaia now has the chance to make it three from three after his final effort in Q2 around the Texan venue proved more than enough to rebuff Quartararo.

Indeed, though they start next to each other on the front row, Quartararo will be concerned by the vast 0.4secs margin to the in-form Ducati rider heading into what could be a pivotal race for his title bid.

Marc Marquez completes the front row in third, with Jorge Martin in fourth place, the two Spaniards playing a game of cat and mouse to slipstream their way up towards the front of the grid.

Takaaki Nakagami scored one of his best starting positions of the season the LCR Honda in fifth, ahead of Johann Zarco, who made it three Ducatis inside the top six.

Winner at COTA on the series’ last visit to the US, Alex Rins headed up the Suzuki challenge in seventh, just ahead of defending champion team-mate Joan Mir, the Spaniard having to work hard to first clear Q1 before landing in eighth place.

Having seen his Avintia Ducati team-mate Enea Bastianini steal the limelight with a podium at Misano, it was the turn of Luca Marini to impress with a run to ninth - also via Q1 - for his best MotoGP starting position yet.

That placed him ahead of factory Ducati rider Jack Miller in tenth, who is joined on the fourth row by the only KTM rider in the top ten, Brad Binder, plus Honda’s Pol Espargaro.

Though Fabio Quartararo was the only Yamaha rider in Q2, there were encouraging signs for the recovering Franco Morbidelli in 13th, while Andrea Dovizioso enjoyed a big step forward over Misano to secure 14th position By contrast, Valentino Rossi’s starts down in 20th after a crash late on.

Misano star Bastianini could only manage 16th place, while Miguel Oliveira’s miserable second half of the season continued with a crash that left him 18th, while Aleix Espargaro was the big loser after a fall early on left him with work to do on his final soft tyre run, only for that to be baulked by Alex Marquez.

2021 Grand Prix of the Americas MotoGP | Qualifying RESULTS