Motorcycling-Bezzecchi shatters lap record to beat Marquez brothers to Aragon GP pole

Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi became the first rider to crack ​the one minute and 45 seconds barrier ​at MotorLand, snatching pole position for ‌the Aragon ​Grand Prix and ending Marc Marquez's bid for a hat-trick of poles at the circuit on Saturday. The Italian initially set the pace with ‌a time of 1:44.984 before going even faster with another lap record of 1:44.962, leaving Ducati's Marquez unable to match the Aprilia rider's scorching pace.

Marquez, who has won seven MotoGP races at Aragon, will start ‌alongside Bezzecchi on the front row despite a heart-stopping moment while braking on a flying lap. His ‌brother Alex Marquez, of Gresini Racing, completes the front row. "Well, it was a positive morning overall... Obviously, the qualifying was good fun. I'm happy to be fast and to grab the pole position," Bezzecchi said.

"Now the real job starts... We ⁠start in ​a good place, but ⁠Marc and Alex are both super fast in terms of pace with both tyres, so it's going to be a tough ⁠fight. But we are enjoying and let's see what we can do." Reigning world champion Marc Marquez accepted that Bezzecchi ​had the faster bike.

"Marco, at the moment, has a better pace than us, so sometimes ⁠you cannot do anything. You just try to do your best and it's what we are doing," he said. "I pushed hard ⁠on ​that brake point, maybe too much and I had that moment. I feel that I can keep a constant pace, but Marco basically has a bit faster pace."

Trackhouse Racing's Raul Fernandez was ⁠fourth-fastest and he will line up on the second row with Aprilia's Jorge Martin and KTM's Pedro Acosta. The ⁠third row features VR46 ⁠Racing's Fabio Di Giannantonio, Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia and LCR Honda's Johann Zarco, who made a memorable return from a knee injury sustained in a crash ‌at the Catalan ‌Grand Prix in May.