- 2021-04-18
-
SPORTS
-
MotoGP Portugal: Fabio Quartararo Takes Pole Position as Francesco Bagnaia Loses Lap Record
The Round 3 of MotoGP 2021, Grande Prémio 888 de Portugal took place at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal on April 17, 2021.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) returned to the race at this event since rehabilitation due to surgery his right arm. It is his first race in 9 months.
In Qualifying, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) took the pole position with 1'38.862s. Initially, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Team) took the pole position, but had a record-smashing pole lap cancelled for a yellow flag infringement waving for Johann Zarco's crash, with Fabio Quartararo promoted to pole. This result marks Francesco Bagnaia dropped to 11th and Maverick Viñales (Monster Yamaha) dropped from 5th to 7th.
Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) and Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) were promoted to 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Marc Marquez advanced to Q1 from Q2, and will start 6th in 2nd row.
Finally, Francesco Bagnaia dropped to 11th and Maverick Viñales (Monster Yamaha) dropped to 5th to 7th.
Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) has been ruled out following his violent crash in FP3 which has put him in hospital.
“The taste of this pole position is not exactly the same of the other ones, but the most important was to start from the front row and we achieved our goal. Most of all, the good thing was the pace this morning with old tyres. But also testing the tyres in the afternoon, the pace was great and with used tyres I feel I could push a little bit more. Everytime it is changing and also from this morning I felt different to this afternoon. For us it looks like both tyres are working well. Right now I am more into the medium, but tomorrow we will see if we try the hard during the warm up. I'm feeling confident with both tyres so whether we go with the hard or the medium, both are great options for the race. Honestly, I go outside the pit box. I just go away from the box and wait. It's not great, especially for the family involved. They put if the rider is conscious or not but that's it. For me, we had four minutes left of the session and it is time attack mode where veryone will push like hell. So for me it is not a good idea to put on the replay every time of the crash, as we know he (Martin) had a big crash. We saw him on the ground and I think these are images that are not great to see for us, but more importantly for the family to see, as they don't really know (what's happened).”
Grande Prémio 888 de Portugal Qualifying Results- Fabio Quartararo / Monster Yamaha / 1'38.862s
- Alex Rins / Suzuki Ecstar / +0.089s
- Johann Zarco / Pramac Ducati / +0.129s
- Jack Miller / Ducati Team / +0.199s
- Franco Morbidelli / Petronas Yamaha / +0.241s
- Marc Marquez / Repsol Honda / +0.259s
- Aleix Espargaro / Aprilia Gresini / +0.307s
- Luca Marini ITA / VR46 Avintia Ducati / +0.524s
- Joan Mir / Suzuki Ecstar / +0.536s
- Miguel Oliveira / Red Bull KTM / +0.583s
- Francesco Bagnaia / Ducati Team / +0.620s
- Maverick Viñales / Monster Yamaha / +0.945s
- Alex Marquez / LCR Honda / 1'39.53s
- Pol Espargaro / Repsol Honda / 1'39.71s
- Brad Binder / Red Bull KTM / 1'39.776s
- Enea Bastianini / Avintia Ducati / 1'39.855s
- Valentino Rossi / Petronas Yamaha / 1'39.943s
- Danilo Petrucci / KTM Tech3 / 1'40.202s
- Iker Lecuona / KTM Tech3 / 1'40.408s
- Lorenzo Savadori / Aprilia Gresini / 1'40.444s
- source : MotoGP
