Marc Marquez fastest in Aragon Grand Prix qualifying for 99th career pole

Reuters

3 days ago

June 7 (Reuters) - Ducati's Marc Marquez broke the lap record at the Aragon Grand Prix on Saturday to clinch the 99th pole position of his career and fifth of the season, pipping his brother Alex of Gresini Racing to top spot.
Championship leader Marc set the early pace when he became the first rider to go under a minute and 46 seconds but the Spaniard was soon pushed down to third when Alex went fastest, followed by VR46 Racing's Franco Morbidelli.
But Marc put his head down and produced an aggressive lap, with his red Ducati sliding around some of the curves as he clocked one minute and 45.704 seconds at the MotorLand circuit.
"The first lap with the first tyre was clean. I just did one lap and then I stopped because I was already (one minute and) 45.9 without exaggerating, but then I exaggerated too much (on my next attempt)," Marc said.
"(I was) trying to be too fast, even lost time. Of course, the riding style for the main race and the sprint is different, but the lap was not the smoothest lap of my life."
Marc's fifth pole of the season put him in prime position to claim a record-extending seventh MotoGP victory at Aragon.
His team mate Francesco Bagnaia also struggled with stability on his bike but managed to go fourth fastest while Red Bull KTM's factory team riders Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder will join him on the second row on Sunday.