MotoGP Indonesian GP: Quartararo on pole, Marquez 15th after two crashes in wild qualifying

After a miserable start to his title defence in Qatar, in which he qualified 11th and finished the race ninth, Quartararo stormed to his first pole since the 2021 Catalan GP by 0.213 seconds from Pramac’s Jorge Martin.

Qualifying was delayed by 20 minutes after the preceding FP4 session was red-flagged for Alex Rins’ Suzuki catching fire at Turn 13.

Having come through a dramatic Q1 session, Francesco Bagnaia put his factory Ducati top of Q2 in the opening stages with a 1m31.615s.

But this was quickly demolished by reigning world champion Quartararo, who put his Yamaha top of the pile with a 1m31.227s just moments after team-mate Franco Morbidelli – who was fastest in the preceding FP4 – crashed at Turn 5.

At the start of his second run, Quartararo found more time to a 1m31.067s and would go unchallenged through to the chequered flag to open his pole account in 2022.

He will head the two Pramac Ducatis of Martin and Johann Zarco, who leaped up to third late on.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

With KTM’s Brad Binder and Qatar race winner Enea Bastianini on the Gresini Ducati making late gains up to fourth and fifth also, Bagnaia found himself shuffled off the front row to sixth.

Miguel Oliveira on the sister factory KTM was seventh ahead of Rins, while Jack Miller could do no more than ninth on his factory Ducati.

Aleix Espargaro will start 10th after crashing his Aprilia late on while on a strong lap. He will start alongside Gresini rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio – who followed Bagnaia through Q1 – and Morbidelli.

The shock of qualifying came in a dramatic Q1, as three main hitters in Honda duo Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro, and Suzuki’s Joan Mir failed to get out of the session.

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