Returning from Q1, Francesco Bagnaia created a surprise by taking pole position in Brno, his first of the season.
Francis Bagnaia defied all predictions this Saturday in Brno by claiming pole position. It must be said that he had a poor start to his Grand Prix, not finishing among the top ten in Practice yesterday, which prevented him from progressing directly to Q2. The reason was a poor tire choice. However, in the morning, in mixed conditions, he had taken third place in FP1.
This morning, with only the 18th fastest time on a dry track, qualifying was shaping up to be difficult. During his first run of Q1, he was only fifth (equivalent to 15th place on the grid), before something clicked. He finally went for the fastest time and escaped for Q2, where his first reference time was canceled. Returning to the pits to make a change, he didn't leave until halfway through the session, then in 12th and last position.
The #63 driver then set a perfect lap and took provisional pole position, two tenths ahead of Marc Márquez. His teammate hadn't said his last word. Aiming to do even better, he crashed on his final flying lap and had to settle for second place.
bagnaia thus secured his first pole position of the season. This gave him a smile and confidence boost ahead of this afternoon's sprint race. “Luckily, I had those extra 15 minutes during qualifying [with Q1], and then I understood better how to attack on this track for the time attack, which is different from driving.”, he declared hot on the microphone of MotoGP.com.
“I’m very happy. I want to thank my team. They did an incredible job when I stopped. We just made a small adjustment that helped me a lot, and in Q2 we made another one. I’m happy. We have a better understanding of how to continue this afternoon. It will be tricky with the tires, but we’ll see.”
Results of qualifications of the Czech Republic Grand Prix :
Ranking and main photo credit: MotoGP.com
