In motorcycling, three riders have managed to win six world championships in their respective discipline, in the premier class, and only one winning in consecutive years: Giacomo Agostini. The Italian legend won World Championships in two classes totalling 15 titles including eight in the 500cc class; with seven of these coming in consecutive years from 1966 to 1972. In the 350cc class, he won seven titles from 1968 to 1974 as he recorded seven consecutive titles on two separate occasions.
Jorge Navarro (MB Conveyors Speed Up) was also under the former lap record, but has to settle for P6. Spearheading Row 3 is Marini who gets bumped back after Lowes’ late lap, far from a disaster for the Italian but it looks like he has plenty of work on his hands to try and stop Lowes or Bezzecchi closing his Championship gap further. Q1 graduate Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) salvages a P8 starting slot after finishing Free Practice in P19, the Spaniard sits ahead of compatriot Augusto Fernandez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Remy Gardner (Onexox TKKR SAG Team) as the duo round out the top 10. Enea Bastiaini (Italtrans Racing Team) – the man second in the Championship – starts from his second-worst qualifying place of the season, P12 for the Italian, just behind 11th place Joe Roberts (Tennor American Racing).
Viñales was lapping alone and was going well. In Sector 3 the Spaniard was 0.021 under Quartararo’s time and after a stellar final sector, Viñales leapfrogged his Yamaha rival to take provisional pole by 0.171 seconds. Crutchlow crossed the line and moved up to P3 to shove Morbidelli down to P4. Talking of the Italian, Morbidelli was on a great lap and was only 0.020 off in Sector 3. However, Morbidelli lost time down the back straight and despite setting a personal best time, the number 21 stayed P4. Viñales was then setting an almost identical lap time to his current P1 best, and the number 12 came across the line to go slightly quicker – 0.003 was the advantage gained.
The usually calm and collected Ducati Team rider was clearly furious to miss out on Q2 as he threw his glove in disgust at the end of the session. He will line-up for Sunday’s Aragon Grand Prix from 13th on the grid, with KTM rookies Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Iker Lecuona (Red Bull KTM Tech3) joining him on the fifth row of the grid.
Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) claimed P1 in a close-fought MotoGP™ FP4 at the Gran Premio Michelin® de Aragon. A 1:48.551 gave the Italian a 0.105 advantage over Alex Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), with Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) completing the top three as 0.346 covers the leading 12 riders before qualifying.
Carlos Tatay (Reale Avintia Moto3) and Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KTM Tech3) took P1 & P2 in Q1, as the former Red Bull Rookies Cup Champions had clearly prearranged a game plan to aid one another in their efforts, while Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) left it late to seal his place in Q2, exiting pitlane with just three minutes to go. The Argentinian posted a late flying lap to seal his place in Q2 at the expense of Kaito Toba (Red Bull KTM Ajo), while John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) finished in P4.
Joe Roberts (Tennor American Racing) and Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) were the only other improvers up the sharp end with 23 minutes to go, before Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Forward Racing) was up into the top six. Gardner launched to P2 as Lowes’ time was then bettered by Di Giannantonio with five minutes to go, a new all-time lap record for the Italian put him 0.072 clear in P1. Then, Lowes suffered his second crash of the weekend, Turn 14 biting – rider ok, but not ideal for the title contender.
Then, drama for the Championship leader. Turn 14 saw Quartararo suffer his second fast crash of the weekend and he went down hard, on the same hip he crashed on in FP1. His YZR-M1 spitting the Frenchman off and Quartararo had to be stretchered away, thankfully he was sat up and talking at the side of the track, but clearly in pain after a nasty off. Meanwhile, Miller had found time and was up into the top 10 – P6 for the Aussie, which pushed Rins out with five minutes to go.
In fact, nobody inside the top six was able to improve on Friday afternoon’s lap times with a late yellow flag forcing the cancellation of a handful of laps. Earlier in the session, Kaito Toba viciously whipped off his Red Bull KTM Ajo at Turn 2 in a horrible looking highside whilst trying to tag onto his teammate, with the Japanese rider needing a trip to the medical centre as a result. Then, with the chequered flag out, Max Kofler (CIP Green Power) suffered a similarly nasty highside at the same corner with the resultant yellow flags ruining a whole host of riders last gasp attempts to secure a Q2 place.
