San Marino MotoGP, Misano – Full Qualifying Results

* Rookie

**Bagnaia will drop 3 places on the grid, to 5th.

Official Misano MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 31.065s (2021)
Fastest race lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 32.171s (2021)

Jack Miller has taken his first MotoGP pole position since 2018, leading a Ducati freight train during a damp qualifying session at Misano.

Factory team-mate Francesco Bagnaia was just 0.015s behind the Australian, thus achieving his goal of starting on the second row after receiving a three-place grid penalty on Friday.

Bagnaia’s grid demotion means Enea Bastianini (Gresini) and rookie Marco Bezzecchi (VR46) will complete Sunday’s front row with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales best of the rest in fifth this afternoon (fourth on the grid).

But while Bagnaia kept his hopes of a fourth win in a row well and truly alive, it was a disappointing session for title leaders Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), who were left eighth and ninth.

• 2023 MotoGP World Championship – Rider line-up so far

With light rain falling, tension was sky high as riders prepared to try and walk a tightrope between caution and speed in the tricky conditions.

Bagnaia faced extra pressure due to his penalty for ‘riding slow on the racing line in FP1 and causing a dangerous situation for other riders’.

Most riders played it safe by fitting wet tyres for their exploratory laps, with only KTM’s Miguel Oliveira rolling the dice by using slicks from the start.

But, despite the ongoing presence of rain flags, the writing was on the wall when Oliveira shot to the top on only his second lap and the ‘wet’ riders all gradually pitted for slicks. 

The Desmosedici traditionally offers superior grip in such mixed conditions and pole passed from Oliveira to Miller, then Bezzecchi, Bastianini, Bezzecchi, Bagnaia, Bastianini, Miller, Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, and finally Miller again!

VR46 Ducati team-mates Bezzecchi and Luca Marini reached Q2 by leading Qualifying 1.

Countryman Andrea Dovizioso will start 18th on the grid for his final MotoGP race.

Francesco Bagnaia arrives at his and Ducati’s home round on the crest of a wave after victories in the last three races.

That perfect run not only put Bagnaia into an elite group of three-in-a-row winners alongside Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, but transformed his title chances.

91 points adrift before the win streak began, Bagnaia is now 44 from Yamaha’s reigning champion Fabio Quartararo and just 12 behind Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Bagnaia is also the only one of that trio to have taken a prior Misano victory , in 2021, plus another podium in 2020, but he also fell from the lead of two other home races.

Last year’s late mistake not only confirmed Quartararo as world champion, but gave Marc Marquez what remains his and Honda’s most recent MotoGP victory.

The Spanish star won’t be present this weekend as he continues to recover from the fourth operation on his right arm, but Marquez made his two-wheeled return on a CBR600 at Aragon on Wednesday and HRC are hoping Marquez will be fit to make a comeback at next week’s post-race test.

Meanwhile, Misano will be the final MotoGP event for Andrea Dovizioso, Marquez’s main title rival from 2017-2019, who has decided to call an early end to a difficult season at RNF Yamaha with a farewell in front of his home fans.

The 36-year-old made his grand prix debut as a 125cc wild-card back in 2001 and has gone on to take 24 victories and 103 podiums. 15 wins and 62 podiums were in the premier-class, where he raced for Honda, Ducati and Yamaha.

Dovizioso will be replaced by Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow for the final six rounds.

Making his very first MotoGP start this weekend will be 31-year-old Japanese Superbike rider Kazuki Watanabe, who has been called up by Suzuki to replace the injured Joan Mir.

Friday September 2

8am – Moto3 FP1

8.55am – MotoGP FP1

9.55am – Moto2 FP1

12.15am – Moto3 FP2

1.10pm – MotoGP FP2

2.10pm – Moto2 FP2

Saturday September 3

8am – Moto3 FP3

8.55am – MotoGP FP3

9.55am – Moto2 FP3

12pm – Moto3 Q2

12.30pm – MotoGP FP4

1.10pm – MotoGP Q1

1.35pm – MotoGP Q2

2.10pm – Moto2 Q1

2.35pm – Moto2 Q2

Sunday September 4

8am – Moto3 warm-up

8.20am – Moto2 warm-up

8.40am – MotoGP warm-up

10am – Moto3 race

11.20am – Moto2 race

1pm – MotoGP race