Pedro Acosta made Japanese Grand Prix history by taking his first MotoGP pole (1:43.018). Mazarrón’s Tiburón ended up with this first place after the record lap of Marc Márquez, who will start ninth, was canceled for exceeding the track limits. The Shark drove very fast throughout qualifying and eventually took home his prize. The rookie of the year celebrated his award by becoming the youngest pole-sitter in history after Quartararo and Márquez. The second will be Bagnaia, who started very badly and turned the situation around, and the third will be Maverick Viñales.
All riders took to the track for a few seconds before getting on the bike to fight for pole to see if it was raining or not and how much it was raining. Some small declines appeared in the first quarter. A few drops which were not enough to wet the track and put on the rain tires, but which were enough to fog up the driver’s visor and cause just enough discomfort. But that water increased at the start of Q2 and the stewards waved the flag for rainy conditions from the start.
Marc Márquez overtook Pecco Bagnaia shortly before crossing the finish line to lead the group alone. The man from Cervera wanted to take advantage of the little dry weather to do a good lap, because it could be the last if the conditions end up deteriorating. The Italian was seen with some doubts, suffering, and Álex Márquez also surpassed him on the track. The 93 took first place with a time of 1:45.7, ahead of Morbidelli, Binder and Martín.
But in the next lap, the Lleida reduced his previous lap by 1.6 seconds, although he had a little scare in the first sector, although he hardly lost any time. The rain had provided a respite and Márquez took advantage of it. The only one who eclipsed Gresini was Pedro Acosta, who was only two tenths behind. After this lap, Marc went to the pits and the Tiburón de Mazarrón continued on the track and improved his time. Bastianini and Bezzecchi had already beaten the eight-time world champion’s time, but the KTM improved it and took the lead.
The other one who entered the pits was Bagnaia. The Italian was last in Q2 and arrived saying his rear tire was not working. He changed the tire and things got better for him. During his first lap after leaving the pits, the 1 ranked second, 48 thousandths behind Acosta’s time. The rain had stopped and the weather was improving. Pecco beat the Murcian driver’s time by almost half a second, but behind him was an alien named Marc Márquez.
93 was minus 0.7 in Acosta’s time. When he crossed the finish line, he cut Bagnaia’s time by 0.3 and broke the track record with a time of 1:42.8. It was the first time he had gone below 1’43” on this circuit. Until now, the track record was held by Jorge Martín since last year with a time of 1:43.198. Just afterwards, the leader of the World Championship fell while he was ninth with just over a minute to go.
To everyone’s surprise, at the end of qualifying, Marc Márquez’s lap was canceled for exceeding the track limits in the fourth turn. The Gresini driver’s lap disappeared and he dropped to eighth position and pole went to Pedro Acosta. In the end, the native of Lleida will start from ninth position, two ahead of Jorge Martín, eleventh.
🤩 @37_pedroacosta stars in an absolutely mental qualification with her maiden #MotoGP Pole!@PeccoBagnaia and Maverick gather the front row as @marcmarquez93 & @88jorgemartin will be launched on the 9th and 11th respectively 🤯#Japanese GP 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/CFdPgLxEZn
– MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 5, 2024
Quartararo surprises in the first quarter
There was a slight threat of rain in the opening minutes of the first quarter. Jack Miller and Raúl Fernández took advantage of the first lap to place themselves in the first two positions, which give access to Q2, before going to the box to analyze the situation. These constant sparks remained in certain areas of the circuit, but they were just a few small drops that had no effect. In fact, on his second attempt, Franco Morbidelli bettered Miller’s time by half a second to place first.
Aleix Espargaró and Fabio Quartararo also improved the KTM rider’s time on this second attempt. The Aprilia rider tried to improve the Diablo’s time on his next fast lap, but he was unsuccessful and crossed the finish line while still having another chance. He didn’t see it clearly at all and decided to cut it off. Raúl Fernández and Jack Miller overtook him and he will start fifteenth. Quartararo overtook, who gave the surprise and entered Q2 for the first time through Q1, and Morbidelli, big favorite of this qualifying session.
