Qualifying report

Marquez takes pole for MotoGP Americas GP to continue unbeaten start

Championship leader Marquez continued his perfect start to the 2025 MotoGP season by claiming pole at Circuit of the Americas

Marc Marquez sealed a third consecutive pole position of the season at the Americas Grand Prix meaning it is his first qualifying hat-trick since 2019.

The factory Ducati rider, who has also won both sprint races and grands prix this season, will lead an all-Ducati front row alongside Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46) and younger brother Alex Marquez (Gresini).

It is the first time in 2025 that Alex will not line up directly alongside Marc for the races. Meanwhile, Marc’s team-mate Francesco Bagnaia could only manage sixth.

Q1 turned into even more of a shootout than usual after Raul Fernandez’s crash at Turn 10 brought out a red flag with only eight minutes remaining. At the time of the stoppage, no rider had yet set a representative time on the lengthy 3.462-mile circuit.

The first flying laps after the restart proved decisive given the lifespan of the soft rear tyre every rider was running. Luca Marini set an immediate pace and won that mini-battle aboard the factory Honda.

Marini, who appeared to have found something in the preceding FP2 session as Honda continued to make encouraging progress, thus joined his team-mate Joan Mir in Q2.

Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo was the other man to make the cut. As was the case for Marini, his first lap after the red flag was enough to keep him in second. His attempt to improve on that was quickly over when he almost lost control of the bike at Turn 1 on his second flying lap.

Notables to miss Q2 were LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco, Marco Bezzecchi of the factory Aprilia squad and KTM factory man Brad Binder. Zarco and Bezzecchi had both been hampered by falls during the course of Friday.

Q2 was a hectic affair that included a brief spill for Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer at Turn 1, as well as its fair share of yellow flag and shortcut infringements. Di Giannantonio was briefly the victim of a cancellation for failing to slow for a yellow, and appeared third on the screens at the end of the session. But officials then reversed their decision, returning the Italian to second.

Pedro Acosta was fourth-fastest for KTM, while Franco Morbidelli kept up VR46’s all-round good form with the fifth-fastest time ahead of Bagnaia.

The factory HRC duo of Marini and Mir also had a successful qualifying in the context of Honda’s struggles in recent years, and will line up seventh and eighth.

Mir followed Marc Marquez around Circuit of the Americas at one point in the session, and in some parts of the track he looked more than comfortable in the Ducati’s shadow. Later, though, the 2020 world champion fell, bringing out the yellow flag that almost cost di Giannantonio.

Jack Miller, who starred in the wet on Friday for Pramac Yamaha, completes the third row. The fourth row will be made up of the 2024 Americas Grand Prix winner Maverick Vinales (KTM), 2021 world champion Quartararo and Aldeguer.

MotoGP Americas Grand Prix qualifying result

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93	Ducati	7	2'01.088		163.903	334
2	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	7	+0.101 2'01.189	0.101	163.767	338
3	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	7	+0.360 2'01.448	0.259	163.418	334
4	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	7	+0.416 2'01.504	0.056	163.342	339
5	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	7	+0.441 2'01.529	0.025	163.309	333
6	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	6	+0.523 2'01.611	0.082	163.199	335
7	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	7	+0.649 2'01.737	0.126	163.030	334
8	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	5	+0.920 2'02.008	0.271	162.668	332
9	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	7	+0.920 2'02.008	0.000	162.668	329
10	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	7	+0.931 2'02.019	0.011	162.653	334
11	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	6	+0.944 2'02.032	0.013	162.636	327
12	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	7	+1.331 2'02.419	0.387	162.121	331
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