Wild qualifying in Brazil: Di Giannantonio soars from Q1 amid crashes and drama

Chaotic and unpredictable qualifying: who took the first MotoGP pole position in Brazil? Report and standings.

A real festival of crashes, twists, surprises... until Fabio Di Giannantonio emerges! Blasting in from Q1, he then had a slide after taking the lead, but no one touched his benchmark, which he later improved, locking down P1 all the way to the checkered flag. That’s the outcome of the first qualifying held at the Ayrton Senna Autodrome in Goiania, finally in dry track conditions today. The front row is completed by Marco Bezzecchi, who also came through Q1, while Marc Marquez lines up third, having also crashed during the decisive session. The Sprint is at 15:00 local time, 19:00 in Italy, but here in the meantime are the results from the first qualifying at Goiania.

The top 10 straight into Q2 was set yesterday with the surprise-filled Practice; now it’s time for the final free practice session. The first truly dry run for MotoGP, the moment to dial in the bike for qualifying first and then the Sprint. Noted on the sheet: crashes for Alex Marquez and Luca Marini, plus an off-track excursion for Jorge Martin, and in the final five minutes Toprak Razgatlioglu, then Marco Bezzecchi, and finally Franco Morbidelli all go down. Meanwhile, Ai Ogura lands the hammer blow and tops the session, followed by Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin (after a second run-off).

Looking at tires: a majority on hard fronts, also used in 14–17 lap sequences—so the whole session—with the exceptions of softs for Bastianini and Aldeguer, and a medium for Marini. On the rear, most chose softs, used by many for the entire run, with exceptions on mediums for Aldeguer, Miller, Razgatlioglu, Bezzecchi, Marc Marquez, and Bagnaia (the latter ran them for all of FP2).

A touch of extra pressure for Bezzecchi, Miller, Marini and even more for Morbidelli, the second home rider thanks to his mother Cristina’s origins, a guest in the box. Looking at the session, all of them have only one bike available after their FP2 crashes—no mistakes allowed or the session is over early... Unfortunately, both Marini and Miller crash again in this Q1, while the fight at the top for the two advancing spots is very tight. For a while, Moreira has his crowd dreaming... But in the end, Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio go through; a surprise to see Raul Fernandez well out of Q2.

All 12 qualifiers head straight out for the final showdown. But we get several twists within minutes: first Bagnaia crashes, then Acosta, and shortly after the provisional polesitter Marc Marquez hits the deck too! Di Giannantonio climbs the order, but then Martin and the VR46 Roman himself also fall... It’s a truly unpredictable session! Everyone manages to get back out for a last push for the best possible spot—it’s a fierce fight—but P1 remains locked down. Fabio Di Giannantonio is unbeatable this time: the first pole position on the Brazilian track is his! The front row is completed by Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez; here’s the final top 12.