Qualifying report
MotoGP Portugal GP
Portuguese MotoGP: Quartararo on pole as Bagnaia lap deleted
Francesco Bagnaia had a record-smashing pole lap cancelled for a yellow flag infringement in a dramatic MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix qualifying, with Fabio Quartararo promoted to pole.
Lewis Duncan
Edited: Apr 17, 2021, 7:03 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Ducati rider blasted the old Algarve lap record with a 1m38.494s on his final lap, but a crash for 2020 Portugal poleman Miguel Oliveira brought out the yellow flags and cost Bagnaia his lap.
Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro set the early benchmark at a solid 1m39.452s, but this was blasted by Quartararo, who fired in a weekend-best of 1m39.028s.
The FP4 pacesetter was on course to better this on his second lap, but a snap on the front-end of his Yamaha under braking for Turn 8 forced him to abort.
At the same time, Pramac's Johann Zarco was putting some serious pressure on Quartararo's lap, but he crashed at the Turn 11 Portimao corner.
This wound up affecting both Bagnaia on the Ducati and Quartararo's teammate Maverick Vinales, who had their fastest laps at that point cancelled.
This dropped Bagnaia from second to 11th and Vinales from fifth to seventh, with Petronas SRT's Franco Morbidelli promoted to second courtesy of the former's lap cancellation.
Quartararo bettered his earlier effort on the first lap of his second run with a 1m38.862s, before Bagnaia put this under immense pressure.
Bagnaia blitzed the field by over four tenths with his final effort, only for it to be scrubbed and drop him down to 11th as Quartararo was promoted to his 11th career MotoGP pole.
Suzuki's Alex Rins leaped up to third from ninth late on, with Bagnaia's lap cancellation promoting Rins to second.
Championship leader Zarco's earlier crash didn't dent his confidence much as he salvaged a front row start with a 1m39.991s putting him third ahead of Jack Miller and Morbidelli.
Returning six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez was fastest in Q1 and will start his first race in nine months from the back of the second row in sixth, while Aleix Espargaro heads row three on the Aprilia.
Luca Marini scored his best MotoGP qualifying result in eighth on his Avintia Ducati, with world champion Joan Mir – who followed Marquez through Q1 – only ninth on the second Suzuki.
Oliveira was left in 10th after his late crash, with Bagnaia heading Yamaha's Vinales – who had two fast laps at the end cancelled – to complete the top 12.
Alex Marquez was the sole LCR representative in qualifying after teammate Takaaki Nakagami elected to sit out the session as he battles a shoulder injury from his scary FP2 crash.
The younger Marquez brother couldn't challenge for a Q2 place and ended up 0.228s away in 13th, with Pol Espargaro 0.066s further adrift in 14th.
The factory Honda rider's preparations for Q1 were somewhat disrupted by a heavy high-side at the final corner in FP4, but walked away from that spill largely unscathed.
Brad Binder will start 15th on the KTM ahead of Avintia rookie Enea Bastianini, while Valentino Rossi's woes continue in 2021 as he could only manage 17th on his SRT Yamaha.
Danilo Petrucci headed Tech3 teammate Iker Lecuona in 18th, while Lorenzo Savadori on the Aprilia was last of the runners in Q1 in 20th.
Nakagami's participation in Sunday's race looks in doubt, while Pramac rookie Jorge Martin has been ruled out following his violent crash in FP3 which has put him in hospital.
Cla Rider Bike Time Gap 1 Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'38.862 2 Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'38.951 0.089 3 Johann Zarco
Ducati 1'38.991 0.129 4 Jack Miller
Ducati 1'39.061 0.199 5 Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'39.103 0.241 6 Marc Marquez
Honda 1'39.121 0.259 7 Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'39.169 0.307 8 Luca Marini
Ducati 1'39.386 0.524 9 Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'39.398 0.536 10 Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'39.445 0.583 11 Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'39.482 0.620 12 Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 1'39.807 0.945 13 Alex Marquez
Honda 1'39.530 0.668 14 Pol Espargaro
Honda 1'39.710 0.848 15 Brad Binder
KTM 1'39.776 0.914 16 Enea Bastianini
Ducati 1'39.855 0.993 17 Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 1'39.943 1.081 18 Danilo Petrucci
KTM 1'40.202 1.340 19 Iker Lecuona
KTM 1'40.408 1.546 20 Lorenzo Savadori
Aprilia 1'40.444 1.582 21 Takaaki Nakagami
Honda View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Jorge Martin set for surgery after violent MotoGP practice crash
Next article Vinales "cannot understand" cancelled MotoGP qualifying laps
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lewis Duncan
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
MotoGP
MotoGP Sep 19, 2024
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
Jul 5, 2024
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
Jul 5, 2024
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
More from
Fabio Quartararo
Fabio Quartararo 19th and angry: “I’ve not struggled so much at Sepang in a long time”
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
14 d
Fabio Quartararo 19th and angry: “I’ve not struggled so much at Sepang in a long time”
MotoGP riders oppose fines for missing fan events
MotoGP
MotoGP
Indonesian GP
1 mo
MotoGP riders oppose fines for missing fan events
Fabio Quartararo forced to leave Monster as Red Bull returns to Honda
MotoGP
MotoGP 1 mo
Fabio Quartararo forced to leave Monster as Red Bull returns to Honda
More from
Yamaha Factory Racing
With the Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix over, it is time to heal the wounds
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 d
With the Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix over, it is time to heal the wounds
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
4 d
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
Alex Marquez undergoes surgery on his right shoulder and begins recovery at home
MotoGP
MotoGP
Qatar GP
10 d
Alex Marquez undergoes surgery on his right shoulder and begins recovery at home
Latest news
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 15 min
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 39 min
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
1 h
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe