BAGNAIA BEATS MILLER TO MOTOGP POLE AT ARAGON

Francesco Bagnaia beat his Australian teammate Jack Miller to take pole position for tonight’s MotoGP race at Aragon.

After a horrid two rounds at the Spanish circuit last year, the factory Ducati team struck back with vengeance, Bagnaia and Miller locking out the front two positions of the grid.

The pole was also a historic one for Ducati, the manufacturer’s 50th in the premier class.

Bagnaia was a step above the rest of the field, smashing the lap record of seven years by over 0.3s.

The Italian rider set a 1m 46.322s time to comfortably take pole position, however it looked as though championship leader Fabio Quartararo would qualify in second.

However Aussie Miller set a very strong final sector on his final attempt to shoot up to second, eclipsing Quartararo by 0.031s.

Quartararo’s time on his factory Yamaha was still good enough for the third and a final spot on row one.

Honda’s Marc Marquez has won at Aragon in MotoGP five times previously and holds an impeccable record on anti-clockwise circuits.

The six-time MotoGP champion qualified in fourth position just 0.017s slower than Quartararo and 0.048s slower than Miller.

Rookie sensation Jorge Martin again impressed, qualifying in fifth ahead of the inform Aleix Espargaro on his factory Aprilia.

Reigning champion Joan Mir on his factory Suzuki will not be too disappointed with seventh on the grid, and as always on the Japanese bike will be stronger in the race.

Silverstone pole sitter Pol Espargaro will start from eighth alongside Italian Enea Bastianini who qualified in the top 10 for the first time in his rookie MotoGP season.

Championship contender Johann Zarco had to make his way through Q1, he did so but could not place his Pramac Ducati any higher than 10th on the grid.

Takaaki Nakagami was 11th ahead of the other Q1 graduate Brad Binder, the highest placed KTM rider in qualifying.

The big disappointment of qualifying was Suzuki rider Alex Rins.

The Spaniard was incredibly strong at Aragon last year, winning the first race before finishing second a week later, however he has struggled for one lap pace all weekend and qualified a disappointing 20th on the grid.

Iker Lecuona qualified in 13th ahead of Alex Marquez, Yamaha replacement rider Cal Crutchlow, Danilo Petrucci, Luca Marini and Miguel Oliveira.

Maverick Vinales racing for Aprilia this weekend for the very first time qualified in 19th, after a strong first three sectors he was unable to finish the lap, losing nearly 0.3s in the final sector.

He qualified ahead of Rins, seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi and the Italian legend’s Petronas Yamaha teammate Jake Dixon.

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