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Spanish MotoGP news: Francesco Bagnaia makes history on his way to pole position

Francesco Bagnaia

Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia will start the Spanish Grand Prix on pole position after setting the fastest lap time ever seen at the track.

In what is a highly-anticipated clash between Bagnaia and current championship leader Fabio Quartararo, it's the Italian who landed the opening blow after storming to pole position in qualifying. 

The Ducati Lenovo Team rider posted a new all-time lap record of 1:36.170 in Q2 to stamp his name into the history books at the Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto.

Quartararo was eyeing his fifth straight pole position at this track, but had to make do for second place after finishing almost half-a-second behind.

Meanwhile, Aleix Espargaro will start Sunday's race from outside of the front row in third, having finished the qualifying session 0.763 seconds behind the Italian.

Dramatic day of qualifying

Before the first flying laps had even arrived, Jorge Martin already crashed out at the first corner. The Spaniard caught a slight bobble on the track which saw him crash out during Q2.
On the second flying laps, Bagnaia and Quartararo jostled for top spot as they displayed their dominance over the rest of the chasing pack.
With three minutes remaining, Joan Mir's front row hopes were dashed as he crashed on the opening corner.
Just moments later, Bagnaia left his opposition in the dust as he posted his record-breaking time to deny Quartararo his second pole of the season.
The Frenchman did respond with a strong lap of his own, however his best effort was still four tenths adrift of the Italian, who banked his first pole position since Portimao last season.

Best lap time ever

Speaking in the press conference, Bagnaia reflected on his sensational lap saying: "The truth is I think it was my best lap time ever because everything was perfect.
"I tried to attack and I didn't make any mistakes. Normally when you attack like that it's easy to go a little wide in a corner, but today everything was perfect.
"I was lucky enough to compete in Portimao because I felt good again with my bike, the feeling of braking had returned. And we got off to a good start this weekend. I improved a little in every session and today in FP4 my feeling was also good."
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