Home hero Pecco Bagnaia commanded a dramatic MotoGP qualifying from the outset, clearing Q1 to take a double pole at Misano.
Ducati power locked out the entirety of the front row as Jack Miller and local VR46 rider Luca Marini secured second and third with Championship leader Fabio Quartararo failing to progress from Q1 and starting 15th on the grid for the Emilia Romagna GP.
MotoGP qualifying began with a frantic Suzuki garage after Joan Mir crashed out at turn 15 in FP4. The reigning Champion and his teammate Alex Rins both facing the Q1 fight alongside Quartararo, Bagnaia, Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales.
Opening shots fired found Bagnaia and Quartararo first and second after their third laps, Rins and Alex Marquez following with Viñales fifth. Iker Lecuona challenged for the lead before the Ducati rider hit back with a 1’35.604, Marquez advancing to third but the Yamaha was on another charge. Quartararo sat half a second off his title rival at the halfway stage before the LCR rider split them for second. The duo fighting back next time around with almost equal 1’35.2 pace. Marquez and Lecuona once again battled for the final promotion spot as the session continued, the Frenchman demoted to fourth as Bagnaia remained in control thanks to a 1’34 effort.
Yellow flags came out as Brad Binder and Michele Pirro crashed out in quick succession, with three minutes to go. Mir doing likewise at turn 15 as his weekend went from bad to worse.
Bagnaia improved yet again, this time with a 1’33.889 as Marquez and Quartararo sat second and third respectively and almost a full second down. The M1 took second for the briefest of moments before Rins spoiled the party almost instantly, and Enea Bastianini crashed out, from sixth to bring out the yellow flags once again.
The final efforts saw Lecuona storm into second - after topping FP4 - with Quartararo third and out of contention for the pole shootout. Rins finished fourth from the LCR pairing of Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami, with Viñales seventh. The luckless Bastianini took eighth, after his third crash of the day, ahead of fellow fallers Mir and Binder with Andrea Dovizioso heading Italian cohorts Pirro and Rossi. Lorenzo Savadori failing to participate after sustaining a broken collarbone during his early morning crash.
Late changes shuffled the times once more due to yellow flag infringements with Quartararo completing the session fifth and facing a fifth row start on Sunday. Nakagami and Viñales also receiving drops, to seventh and ninth respectively.
With the championship leader out of the action, there was further drama from the opening Q2 lap, with Marc Marquez saving a turn two highside but tweaking his recovering shoulder in the process.
Bagnaia and Lecuona utilised their Q1 experience in the challenging conditions as they continued the battle into the pole shootout session, the Ducati consolidating his advantage with a 1’33.045, 1.2s clear of the KTM behind.
Jorge Martin became the first to fall as Marini and Miller bickered for third position, just 0.045s apart. Franky Morbidelli sitting fifth at the halfway stage from the Repsol Honda duo of Pol Espargaro and Marquez.
Danilo Petrucci joined his Tech3 teammate on the provisional front row as he rose to second with six minutes to go, Marquez finding fourth as Martin crashed for the second time in the 15-minute session.
Espargaro and Miguel Oliveira denied the satellite hopes before Miller and Marquez joined the fray in second and fourth. The standings ordered by team colours as Ducati and HRC locked out the front from a trio of KTMs.
The closing three minutes witnessed an advance from Oliveira and Marini to fourth and fifth, Miller striking within two-hundredths of a second of his teammate’s best while Petrucci and Lecuona both crashed out.
The final minute saw the yellow fags removed for last-dash efforts but Marquez’ crash at turn six removed much hope of progression. Marini put in a blistering late charge to take third at the flag while Johann Zarco followed his Pramac teammate into the gravel in the closing seconds.
Bagnaia secured his second pole position on home soil as Ducati locked out the front row with Miller and Marini. Espargaro heading Oliveira and a late charging Morbidelli on row two with Marquez, Lecuona and Petrucci behind. Zarco and Martin at the back of the pack, split by a disappointing performance by Aleix Espargaro in 11th.
