Yamaha's Maverick Vinales secured his second consecutive pole position of the season at the Misano circuit after Francesco Bagnaia of Pramac Ducati lost his record-setting lap for exceeding track limits. The factory Yamaha rider leads the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix tomorrow ahead of Jack Miller of Pramac Ducati and Fabio Quartararo on the Petronas Yamaha SRT bike. Vinales was at his dominant best right from the start but Bagnaia put on a strong show only for this efforts to be thwarted. The top 11 riders on the grid were separated only by half a second.
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Maverick Vinales set a time of 1m31.077s and was originally placed second with Bagnaia breaking the sub 1m30s time at Misano
Vinales led the timesheets of Q2 setting the fastest time of 1m31.647s but was soon challenged by Bagnaia who set a time of 1m31.313s taking the provisional pole. Quartararo was in form break Bagnaia's time but wobbled on the final corner under hard braking and missed out by few tenths of a second. He, however, beat Vinales to take second in the provisional results. Vinales then made a second run and beat Quartararo before improving on Bagnaia's time with a 1m31.268s.
Francesco Bagnaia broke the Misano lap record with a time of 1m30.973s but the lap was cancelled for exceeding track limits
Bagnaia wasn't giving up so easy and set a new fastest lap time of 1m30.973s, breaking the lap record at Misano, which was set last week by Vinales. However, the rider ran off track on the final corner exit, which prompted stewards to cancel his lap. With a closely matched grid, Bagnaia's second-best time relegated him down to fifth on the qualifying sheet. Vinales improved on his previous time setting a 1m31.077s and was slotted second but was later promoted to the pole after Bagnaia's lap cancellation.
Jack Miller made a giant leap from 12th in Q1 to second setting a time of 1m31.153s, while Quartararo set a time of 1m31.222s taking P3 on the grid, and starts from the front row, just like last week. KTM's Pol Espargaro starts from fourth ahead of Bagnaia while Brad Binder on the second KTM starts at P6. The third row starts with Yamaha's Valentino Rossi taking P7 while Petronas Yamaha SRT rider and San Marino GP winner Franco Morbidelli will start from P8, ahead of the factory Ducati riders Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso rounding up the top ten. Finishing on the podium last week, Joan Mir of Suzuki couldn't place himself better than P11 ahead of LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami.
Alex Marquez rides the sole-running factory Honda on the grid this weekend with Stefan Bradl pulled out due to problems with his arm
Iker Lecuona of Tech 3 KTM starts at P13 after being denied to enter Q2 due to a late charge by Dovizioso. On the other hand, Avintia Racing's Johann Zarco starts 14th after a late crash that didn't leave him enough time to set a new lap time. Miguel Oliveira on the second Tech 3 KTM bike starts at P15 followed by Aleix Espargaro on the factory Aprilia. Suzuki's Alex Rins starts a lowly 18th on the grid, behind the sole running Honda of Alex Marquez. Aprilia's Bradley Smith and Avintia Racing's Tito Rabat start from the bottom in the race tomorrow.
