THIRD POLE IN A ROW FOR BAGNAIA

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia has secured his third pole position in a row after topping MotoGP qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

The first rider to achieve the feat for Ducati since Cassey Stoner in 2008, Bagnaia put in a scorching 2m02.781s final lap in qualifying to secure top spot, while his teammate Jack Miller who had been one of the fastest all through practice had to settle for tenth.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo ended the day second fastest ensuring that the two title rivals will start alongside each other in the race.

Honda’s Marc Marquez was very close to securing a fabled eighth pole position in the US, however the Spaniard’s streak of securing pole in every appearance at COTA came to an end.

It wasn’t all bad news for Marquez, who continues to recover from last year’s injury, as he did secure his first front-row start in 441 days by setting the third fastest time.

The pace of the Ducati’s and Honda’s around the American circuit was further highlighted by Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) who will line up on the second row of the grid.

Suzuki’s Alex Rins and Joan Mir were seventh and eighth fastest just ahead of rookie Luca Marini on the VR46 entry. Both Mir and Marini doing things the hard way by processing their way through from Q1.

Miller’s disappointing run in qualifying will see him lead the fourth row of the grid ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder and Honda’s Pol Espargaro.

Q1 was an eventful session with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) and Valentino Rossi (SRT) all crashing and unable to set a decent lap time.

Yamaha struggled with both Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha) and Andrea Dovizioso (SRT) narrowly missing out on a spot to progress through to Q2 and will make up the fifth row of the grid along with Alex Marquez (LCR Honda).

The sixth row of the grid will be made up by Enea Bastianini (Avintia), Iker Lecuona (Tech3 KTM) and Oliveira.

While Espargaro, Rossi and Danilo Petrucci who has visibly struggled all weekend on the second Tech3 KTM entry rounds out the field.

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