MotoGP Aragon GP: Marquez blitzes field to claim pole by eight tenths

Marc Marquez extended his dominance at MotorLand Aragon by taking his second MotoGP pole position of the season on the Ducati GP23.

The 31-year-old has headed all four sessions so far in the Aragon Grand Prix and is now favourite for the sprint as well as the 12th race of the season on Sunday. 

Thunderstorms in the region created wet and damp sessions for all classes on Saturday morning, but as the skies cleared the sunshine quickly dried the asphalt. 

Gresini rider Marquez was the man to beat at a venue where he has previously won five times and scored seven poles since the the circuit first welcomed MotoGP in 2010.

His fastest effort in Q2 was a hefty 0.8s ahead of Tech3's Pedro Acosta, the impressive MotoGP rookie who will launch from the front row for only the second time in 2024, while Marquez’s 2025 team-mate Francesco Bagnaia lines up in third place.

He said: “At the moment I feel super good. Eight tenths looks a lot, but we cannot forget in other tracks I was eight tenths away from pole! We have to keep the same mentality because the track is quite slippery and it’s easy to make a mistake.”

Reigning world champion Bagnaia said that Marquez was able to pull the large margin because he was able to tip-toe through the damp conditions.

He added: “Marc is taking different lines and doing different things; being 0.8 ahead is unbelievable.”

Bagnaia’s principal title rival Jorge Martin crashed on the approach to the left-hander Turn 5 in the first minute of Q2. 

Martin, who has scored four sprint victories in 2024, grabbed the Pramac GP24 and took fourth to head the second row of the grid ahead of Alex Marquez (Gresini) and team-mate Franco Morbidelli, meaning five Ducatis fill the top six grid slots.

The third row will be headed by KTM's Brad Binder, who starts in seventh, marginally faster than Trackhouse Racing duo Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira. LCR's Johann Zarco gave Honda some renewed hope of improving by gatecrashing Q2 on his Honda. It was the first time a RC213V had been in the second part of qualifying in 2024 – and the Frenchman rounded out the top ten.

Enea Bastianini, who won the British Grand Prix and has taken three podium finishes from the last four rounds, could not piece a lap together in Q1 and was classified down in 14th.