Spanish MotoGP Qualifying Results | Pecco Bagnaia bounces back with Jerez pole

Pecco Bagnaia has landed his first pole position of the season after obliterating the Jerez lap record during qualifying for the Spanish MotoGP.

Still nursing a shoulder injury following an accident a week earlier in Portimao, Bagnaia nonetheless looked back to his best as he came out on top of a keen tussle for the top spot with Fabio Quartararo.

Setting his time early on prior to a series of yellow flags brought on by crashes for Joan Mir, Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini, the interruptions led to several fast laps being cancelled.

A welcome reversal of fortunes for the Italian, who has struggled to live up to his pre-season title favourite status and is yet to achieve a podium this season so far, Bagnaia’s benchmark of 1m 36.170 was almost half-a-second under the existing lap record.

However, he will face a challenge in the race against series leader and defending champion Fabio Quartararo, who is well placed to extend his overall advantage around the circuit he achieved his first MotoGP pole position in 2019 and victory in 2020.

Completing the front row, Aleix Espargaro continued his and Aprilia’s strong form in third position, the Spaniard squeezing in front of Jack Miller, who consolidated Ducati’s positive day with a run to fourth place.

Marc Marquez bounced back from his two crashes on Friday to secure fifth on the best of the Honda contingent, while Johann Zarco gets underway from sixth as one of the two riders proceeding to Q2 via Q1.

Takaaki Nakagami secured his best grid slot of the season with a run to seventh on the LCR Honda, ahead of impressive rookie Marco Bezzecchi, who recovered from a crash in Q1 to make it through to Q2 en route to eighth.

On a frustrating afternoon for Suzuki, Mir put himself on the back foot with a slip off at Turn 1 that left him ninth on the grid, while Alex Rins - joint championship leader with Fabio Quartararo fell at the Q1 hurdle in 14th.

The 2020 MotoGP World Champion was one of three riders to take a tumble in Q2 alone, with Martin and Bastianini coming off too, the trio causing a slew of yellow flags that scuppered a number of quick laps. It was still enough to keep ahead of Maverick Vinales, who starts 12th.

Elsewhere, Pol Espargaro suffered the ignominy of being demoted out of Q2 contention late on by Zarco to start 13th, ahead of Rins and Brad Binder.

2022 Spanish MotoGP | Jerez | Qualifying Results