MotoGP: Márquez claims pole in Hungary, Bagnaia suffers shock Q1exit

Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez beat Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi to take pole position at the Grand Prix of Hungary, whilst two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia endured a shock Q1 exit. F1Technical’s senior writer Balazs Szabo reports from the Balaton Park Circuit.

The first segment of qualifying saw Marco Bezzecchi set the best laptime of the weekend to make it out of Q1. VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio joined his countryman, progressing into the second qualifying session.

Two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia looked much more comfortable on his Desmosedici GP25, but he ended up fifth in Q1 which leaves him to start from a disappointing 15th position the grid for both the Sprint and the Grand Prix.

Q2 saw Marc Márquez set 1m36.518s in the final stages of qualifying to secure his eighth pole position of the season. Having struggled for pace on Friday, Bezzecchi ended up as Márquez’s nearest challenger in qualifying and the Aprilia rider will start from second on the grid.

Di Giannantonio ended up third, three tenths adrift of Marquez, ahead of Enea Bastianini and his VR46 team-mate Franco Morbidelli.

Hot on the heels of a hugely disappointing weekend last time out at the Red Bull Ring 2021 champion, Fabio Quartararo took sixth for Yamaha.

Having displayed eye-catching pace across the practice sessions, Pedro Acosta suffered a crash on his first flying lap.

The Spaniard quickly returned to the KTM garage, and completed the rest of the session with his spare bike, but he only qualified seventh on a weekend when looked to have pace to fight for pole position.

On the back of his best MotoGP result with a second, Fermin Aldeguer took eighth, from Luca Marini in P9, with Honda rider Joan Mir having rounded out the top ten.