Americas GP: Bagnaia grabs pole hat-trick

Pecco
becomes
the
first
Italian
to
claim
three
MotoGP
poles
in
a
row
since
Valentino
Rossi
(Petronas
Yamaha
SRT)
in
2009,
and
Bagnaia
will
start
alongside
2021
FIM
MotoGP
World
Championship
leader
and
rival
Fabio
Quartararo
(Monster
Energy
Yamaha
MotoGP).

Marc
Marquez
(Repsol
Honda
Team)
qualifies
off
pole
position
at
COTA
for
the
first
time,
but
it’s
a
first
front
row
of
the
season
for
the
eight-time
World
Champion
in
third.

‘Captain
America’
Marquez
sets
the
pace
in
Austin

Jorge
Martin
will
lead
the
second
row
from
Takaaki
Nakagami
and
Johann
Zarco,
with
the
two
Team
Suzuki
Ecstar
riders
lining
up
P7
and
P8
on
Row
3
–
Alex
Rins
beating
team-mate
Joan
Mir
by
0.075s.

Luca
Marini’s
P9
is
his
second
best
qualifying
result
of
the
year,
a
fantastic
job
done
by
the
Italian
in
Austin
so
far
this
weekend,
with
a
very
disappointed
Jack
Miller
having
to
settle
for
P10.

The
Australian’s
Q2
didn’t
go
to
plan
at
all,
and
Miller
has
plenty
of
work
to
do
on
Sunday
after
showing
superior
pace
up
to
this
point.

Brad
Binder
(Red
Bull
KTM
Factory
Racing)
and
Pol
Espargaro
(Repsol
Honda
Team)
will
line
up
P11
and
P12
for
the
GP
of
The
Americas.

A
crucial
MotoGP
battle
awaits
in
Texas,
one
that
could
–
and
probably
will
–
have
huge
bearings
on
the
2021
FIM
MotoGP
World
Championship
outcome.

It’s
lights
out
at
2pm
local
time
(Monday,
October
4,
12.30am
IST)
in
Austin,
you
don’t
want
to
miss
an
ounce
of
the
action!

TOP
10
QUALIFIERS

1.
Francesco
Bagnaia
(Ducati
Lenovo
Team)
–
2:02.781
2.
Fabio
Quartararo
(Monster
Energy
Yamaha
MotoGP)
+
0.348
3.
Marc
Marquez
(Repsol
Honda
Team)
+
0.428
4.
Jorge
Martin
(Pramac
Racing)
+
0.497
5.
Takaaki
Nakagami
(LCR
Honda
Idemitsu)
+
0.511
6.
Johann
Zarco
(Pramac
Racing)
+
0.598
7.
Alex
Rins
(Team
Suzuki
Ecstar)
+
0.672
8.
Joan
Mir
(Team
Suzuki
Ecstar)
+
0.747
9.
Luca
Marini
(SKY
VR46
Avintia)
+
0.765
10.
Jack
Miller
(Ducati
Lenovo
Team)
+
0.939

(By
a
special
arrangement
with
Dorna
Sports)