Maverick Viñales takes pole position
MADRID, 25 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish rider Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) has achieved pole position for the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Valencian Community race, the last round of the motorcycle World Championship, in which the championship leader, the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), will start first. row, second, in his fight for the title with the Spanish Jorge Martín (Ducati), who will start sixth.
The current world champion, who arrives at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste with a 21-point lead over the Madrid native, could revalidate his crown this Saturday if he adds four more points than the Madrid native in the sprint race. He would also be able to score 16 points this weekend, regardless of what Martín does, or even be first or second in the long race on Sunday even if he did not score on Saturday.
Some numbers that place him as the great favorite to win the scepter of the premier category. In his first match ball, he will start from the front row alongside Viñales, who has achieved his first pole with Aprilia, and the Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati), who will start third.
For his part, Martín will start sixth on a second row of the grid that will also include the Australian Jack Miller (KTM) and the South African Brad Binder (KTM), who crashed on the last lap of Q2.
On a day of optimal conditions in Cheste, ‘Pecco’ had to go through Q1, where he set the best time among the participants to guarantee a place in the final fight for pole. He was the first face to face of the day with Martín, although at first neither of them managed to set competitive times.
Bagnaia was trying to get rid of ‘Martinator’, who on Friday dedicated himself to following his shadow to try to distract him, while the Madrid native climbed to second position, only behind Brad Binder (KTM). With five minutes left in the session, the Italian improved the South African by four tenths to take the lead.
Martín changed the bike to try to surprise his opponent, but it was ‘Pecco’ who improved his time before Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) achieved, with a spectacular 1:28.931, the absolute track record. The Márquez brothers, with both falls, were ruled out of the fight and everything focused on Martín, who in his last lap was unable to cut off Bagnaia who was already observing everything from the garages.
Among the rest of the Spaniards, Alex Márquez (Ducati) will start eighth, ahead of Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) and Raúl Fernández (Aprilia); Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) will start twelfth; Augusto Fernández (KTM) will do thirteenth; Pol Espargaró (KTM) eighteenth; and Alex Rins (Honda) twentieth. Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) will not participate in the races after his heavy crash in free practice on Friday.