After announcing his retirement from racing, Aleix Espargaro confirms himself unbeatable on his home circuit and brings his Aprilia to pole position one year after the exploit at Jerez de la Frontera. The Catalan centaur manages to beat the Ducati of world champion Francesco Bagnaia for just 31 thousandths of a second and confirms his feeling with the Montmelò circuit, which he knows like the back of his hand. A start not bad for his home grand prix weekend, which last year saw him triumph in both the sprint race and the race. We’ll see if things will go like this again this year or if the Ducatis will manage to ruin the party of the expert Catalan pilot.
Qualifying, Bagnaia unlucky
Although he was certainly not the favorite on the eve, Espargaro puts one again capital qualifying session, breaking the track record with an excellent 1:38.190 and taking home another pole position. However, Aprilia’s situation is not entirely reassuring, considering what they are go strong the official Ducatis. Despite second place with a very minimal gap, Pecco Bagnaia can say he is satisfied: the Piedmontese driver is blocked by yellow flags before being able to make his last attempt and, perhaps, shave off those few cents that separated him from the Aprilia. What upset the cards in the last attempt was the fall of Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli which forces the race direction to display the yellow flags, ruining the last good lap for several riders.
Tail slightly controversial for third place, with the young Raul Fernandez making his debut on the front row thanks to the work of the race direction after the checkered flag, which reinstate the best time set by the Spaniard and canceled due to a penalty. Behind him will start Binder, Acosta and the Italian Di Giannantonio: only seventh Martin, who loses the front into turn 2 on the last attempt and had to settle for seventh place. Even more disastrous the qualifications of the former cannibal Marc Marquez: the Spaniard is eliminated for the second consecutive time in Q1 and will even start from 14to position on the grid. However, considering that the distances between the top drivers are not huge, the grand prix will start Sunday at 2pm it could still offer many surprises.
The first points up for grabs will be on Saturday afternoon, when the sprint race offers 12 points to the winner: we’ll see if there will be the announced Espargaro-Bagnaia duel or if another rider will prevail over his rivals.
