Jorge Martin delivers Ducati's first MotoGP pole of 2024 with a new lap record
Jorge Martin claims the first pole positions of the 2024 MotoGP season in Qatar.
On just his first flying lap of the session, Jorge Martin smashed the all-time MotoGP lap record in Qatar with a sub 1m 50s time.
Martin’s lap was a 1:50.789s which put him two tenths clear of Fabio Di Giannantonio and Francesco Bagnaia.
Making it a Ducatitop five was Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini in fourth and fifth.
Keen to show why he’s the number one, Bagnaia looked set to claim provisional pole before a mistake with two corners to go. Bagnaia still moved up the order before Aleix Espargaro dropped the Ducati star to third.
Brad Binder and Marc Marquez were next to threaten the top time after setting three red sectors, however, Martin’s strong final sector kept him in top spot, which is where he remained through to the flag.
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Raul Fernandez and Jack Miller secure Q2 passage
After narrowly missing out on automatic Q2 positions in practice, Trackhouse Racing duo Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez were the pre-session favourites alongside Marco Bezzecchi and KTM’s Jack Miller.
Last to join the action, Oliveira went fastest ahead of Miller who rebounded from his late fall in practice.
Fernandez then leapt ahead of his more experienced team-mate thanks to a time of 1:51.436s.
After encountering issues coming out of the final corner, Alex Rins had to abandon his final stint and re-enter pit lane from the exit.
Joan Mir then crashed his factory Honda at the final corner before Johann Zarco used the tow of Oliveira to go second.
The top two changed one final time as Miller managed to squeeze past Zarco, while Raul Fernandez held firm at the top.
