MotoGP qualifying results as Pedro Acosta scores Catalan GP pole and Francesco Bagnaia out in Q1

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KTM rider Pedro Acosta secures his second career MotoGP pole position at the 2026 Catalan Grand Prix, on a day that Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati failed to get out of Q1.

Qualifying at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this Saturday also did not go well for 2026 MotoGP championship leader Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia. A crash towards the end of Q2 in Montmelo saw the Italian fail to join the flurry of flying laps, and he will only start from P12.

Ducati are riding solo with Francesco Bagnaia at the Catalan GP this weekend, after reigning riders’ champion Marc Marquez underwent successful surgery on his shoulder and foot last Sunday. Yet VR46’s Franco Morbidelli on a GP25 stopped Bagnaia getting his GP26 into Q2.

Pedro Acosta scores his second pole position in MotoGP at the Catalan Grand Prix. Is this his best chance of securing a maiden victory?

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Pedro Acosta scores pole position for the 2026 MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix

Franco Morbidelli and Jorge Martin both failed to take full advantage of progressing from Q1 to start with fast lap times in Q2 during qualifying for the Catalan GP. KTM star Pedro Acosta, VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio on a GP26 and KTM’s Brad Binder instead set the early pace.

Martin took a cautious approach at the start of Q2 following his third crash of the weekend towards the end of Q1. Aprilia rider Martin suffered a slight concussion and bruising on his shoulder when he crashed during FP1 this Friday, and he had even crashed during practice.

In contrast, Acosta quickly lowered the benchmark Q2 pace before the mid-session lull with a 1:38.118 to edge Alex Marquez, as the Gresini rider started to find speed aboard his GP26 in qualifying. Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse also rose to P3 aboard his Aprilia before the lull.

The field then flocking back onto the circuit in a pack saw Gresini warn Marquez that he was being followed by Di Giannantonio and Martin, so they all lifted off. Amid all of their juggling for position, championship leader Marco Bezzecchi crashed at Turn 2 after he lost the front.

Qualifying for the Catalan GP ultimately then came down to two final flying laps for most of the riders, with Martin the first to improve. But Morbidelli was the man on the move, with the VR46 rider shooting up to second place with a 0.233s deficit to Acosta’s early lap time.

Morbidelli was the only rider to make substantial progress at the end of qualifying, as Jack Miller of Pramac aboard his Yamaha M1 also demoted Bezzecchi to the bottom of the Q2 order in qualifying for the 2026 Catalan GP. Martin was also only able to qualify in just P9.

Can Aprilia still win the 2026 Catalan Grand Prix after Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi’s disappointing qualifying results?

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Franco Morbidelli stops Francesco Bagnaia advancing from Q1 in Catalan GP qualifying

Maverick Vinales quickly settled into qualifying for the Catalan Grand Prix, on the KTM Tech3 rider’s return from surgery on his shoulder injury, to set the early benchmark time in Q1. But the Spaniard’s lap time was soon shattered, as his teammate Enea Bastianini rose to the top.

Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia also found a strong early groove in Q1, having failed to clinch an automatic Q2 place after his torrid time in practice this Friday, yet was still lapping slower than VR46’s Franco Morbidelli on the GP25. Bagnaia trailed his fellow Italian’s lap by 0.065s.

Aprilia racer Jorge Martin did not start strongly during qualifying for the Catalan GP, with the 2024 champion unable to produce a quick lap time in his first run. So, for his second run, the Madrid native tucked himself behind LCR’s Diogo Moreira to get a slipstream on the straight.

Stealing a tow from Moreira helped Martin to improve his pace, but the Aprilia rider did not produce a tidy lap. Yet he still improved his position from P8 in the order at the mid-session lull to P2 with an identical 1:38.797 to Bastianini, who stayed top due to his second-best lap.

Pramac rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu, meanwhile, was having a session to forget, as the three-time World Superbike champion locked the front brake into Turn 4, before soon crashing at Turn 5 without posting a competitive lap time. Martin was also soon in the gravel at Turn 5.

Martin had only just improved his pace to top the Q1 order with a 1:38.701, but he tried to push too hard on the brakes and crashed early at Turn 5. Morbidelli also continued to find more pace and briefly topped the order, but lost his quick lap due to exceeding track limits.

Not to be beaten, Morbidelli continued to push aboard his Ducati GP25 and set a 1:39.550 to top the Q1 order at the Catalan GP ahead of Martin. The Italian’s quick lap even came at the expense of factory Ducati star Bagnaia, who had briefly moved into P2 with a 1:38.752 lap.

Morbidelli made full use of running directly behind Bagnaia at the end of Q1 to steal a vital slipstream from the rider he denied. Gresini racer Fermin Aldeguer could only set the fifth-fastest time on his GP25, after having an almost identical crash to Martin and Razgatlioglu.

Full 2026 MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix qualifying results