Enea Bastianini has secured his second top spot in Moto GP at the Portuguese Grand Prix, with the Ducati rider set to lead the pack for the first time since Austria 2022.
Having posted a lap time of 1:37.706s, Bastianini faced a challenge from Maverick Vinales in the closing stages to claim pole position.
Unfortunately for Vinales, he lost precious time in the final sector of the Portimao lap, finishing 0.082 seconds behind Bastianini but still holding onto second place.
Jorge Martin completes the front row of the grid for the upcoming races, qualifying in third place, with a mere 0.106s separating the top three riders before the Sprint.
Francesco Bagnaia was unable to improve on his provisional pole time but will start in a promising fourth position as he aims to extend his championship lead.
KTM had a mixed qualifying session, with Jack Miller eventually securing fifth place, despite briefly holding second place behind Bagnaia’s Ducati.
On the other hand, KTM rider Brad Binder suffered a crash at Turn 5 at the start of the session, limiting his lap times and placing him in tenth position on the grid.
After a challenging performance in Qatar and a 14th place finish, VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi will start in sixth place, with hopes of kickstarting his championship campaign.
Rookie Pedro Acosta leads the way on the third row, qualifying in a highly respectable seventh place, particularly considering his passage through the Q1 stage.
Unfortunately, Marc Marquez could only manage eighth place after an early crash at Turn 15 forced him to switch to his spare bike.
Alex Marquez, Marc’s brother, was the only rider in Q2 who failed to set a lap time despite advancing from Q1 alongside Acosta.
The Yamaha riders, Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins, secured ninth and 11th place respectively, with Rins trailing the leading pace by 0.796s, providing optimism for the Japanese manufacturer.
Aleix Espargaro’s disappointing weekend continued as he failed to progress from Q1, making him the most prominent name to miss out and leaving him with a significant amount of work to do.
The two other Aprilla riders for the Trackhouse team positioned themselves in 15th and 16th place, with local hero Miguel Oliveira leading the way.
Elsewhere, Fabio DiGiannantonio found himself sandwiched between the Aprilla riders, as all four competitors fought fiercely in a tightly contested Q2 session, separated by less than 0.200s.
Franco Morbidelli was unable to replicate his strong performance in practice, qualifying in 17th place. However, the Italian seems to be making progress following his absence from testing.
With Augusto Fernandez starting in 18th place on the final KTM, both Honda teams had a disappointing result, as all four riders will occupy the back of the grid, led by Johann Zarco.