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Jorge Martín leads the Ducati festival in Austin

Jorge Martín’s Ducati, on the asphalt of the Circuit of the Americas. / ep

GP of the Americas

The man from Madrid signed his sixth pole position in MotoGP, the second this season, improving Márquez’s record at the Las Américas circuit

Already on Friday it had become clear after the first two free practices that the power of the Ducati at one lap was going to become a determining factor in defining the starting grid of the race, an increasingly important element in the current MotoGP, chaired by equality. Five of the eight Italian bikes had placed in the top ten, led by Frenchman Johann Zarco.

The second day in Austin reinforced that feeling. In the final Q2, with twelve riders on the track, six stood up: directly the aforementioned Zarco, officials Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller, plus Enea Bastianini and Luca Marini, and from the playoffs, Jorge Martín. A game, that of grid configuration, which they played alone. First Bagnaia, the author of the pole position in 2021, was the one who set the benchmark. Later it was his partner Miller who was in charge of raising the bar, in a spectacular way.

The Australian, totally alone, pushed until he destroyed the historical record of the track that dated from 2015 and that was in the hands of Marc Márquez, the king of the American track, a record that the Spanish pilot had achieved using Bridgestone tires, one of the oldest references remaining in the current calendar. Although the party was not going to end there and the bar was going to be adjusted a little more. Martín, in his case, taking advantage of his teammate Zarco’s reference, shaved three thousandths off the stopwatch, which put the climax to a success for Ducati that was completed with fourth place for the Frenchman and fifth for Bastianini.

Martín thus added his second pole of the season, the sixth in his short career in the premier class, which demonstrates his spectacular ability to squeeze a bike out of one lap -he had achieved 20 during his time in Moto3 and one more in Moto2-. His best time puts him in a good position to try to repeat the success of the last race, when he finished second, although what might happen today remains to be defined.

For now, several of the favorite theoreticians will have to start overcoming the handicap that their starting positions entail. Fabio Quartararo will start from sixth place, with a motorcycle, the Yamaha, which is paying for his lack of an engine. The two Suzukis, very consistent in all practices, will do so from the third row, with Álex Rins seventh and Joan Mir eighth. For his part, Marc Márquez, the theoretical great favourite, despite the question mark that he himself raised at the start of the weekend, will occupy ninth position on that starting grid.

Doubts about Marquez

And it is that at the end of the qualifying session, perhaps the big question was to understand what role Márquez will be able to play in a scenario in which he has won seven times, and to which this time he arrives with more doubts than usual, although his work in the fourth session, in which the work for the race is usually done, was quite positive. He set the second fastest time, only behind Bagnaia, although while the Italian had set his record with tires with five laps -the test is held over 20 laps-, those of the Spanish had already accumulated twelve, a sign that in a matter of rhythm the work had been successful and of its potential in the circuit of the Americas. The one who will have it more complicated will be the leader of the general classification, Aleix Espargaró, who after suffering a crash in Q1 will occupy thirteenth place on the grid.

In Moto2 the best record went to the American Cameron Beaubier, who had already completed a good performance in 2021 and this time brought joy to the local fans, unaccustomed to seeing their own shine. In the front row of the intermediate class will also be the leader Celestino Vietti, who brilliantly saved a day in which he did not get off to a good start at the last minute, and the second in the standings, Arón Canet, on a track where the Valencian is usually very fast. In Moto3 the pole went to the Italian Andrea Migno, ahead of his compatriot Dennis Foggia, the top favorite for victory. Xavi Artigas, third, was the best of the Spaniards. The first overall, Sergio García, had to settle for fifteenth place.

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