Marco Bezzecchi delivered a decisive late lap to secure pole position at his home Grand Prix in Misano, denying championship leader Marc Marquez a place on the front row.
The Aprilia rider clocked a 1:30.134 in the closing stages of Q2, edging out Alex Marquez by just 0.088s.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo completed the front row just six thousandths further back, having fought his way out of Q1 earlier.
Oh what could've been! 💔
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 13, 2025
More frustration on display from Fabio, who still gets to start from the 3rd row 💢#SanMarinoGP 🇸🇲 pic.twitter.com/HdRUH8mwMS
Marc Marquez had led the early exchanges with a 1.30.352 but wasn’t able to improve on his final time attack, leaving him stranded on ‘just’ the second row.
The factory Ducati rider will start alongside Franco Morbidelli, who placed fifth for VR46, and Luca Marini, who brought home his best Honda qualifying result with a late improvement to sixth.
Fabio di Giannantonio secured seventh ahead of Francesco Bagnaia. The two-time World Champion was shuffled down the order after aborting his first final lap attempt and could not recover beyond a rather disappointing eighth on the grid at his home GP.
Pedro Acosta’s bid for a front-row start ended with a crash at Turn 14 trying to shadow Marc Marquez ahead of him.
The KTM rider remounted but wasn’t able to improve in the later stages of the session.
Yet another error in a key moment sees him start ninth on the grid as fellow Murcian Fermin Aldeguer rounded out the top ten.
Down goes @37_pedroacosta at a crucial time! 💥#SanMarinoGP 🇸🇲 pic.twitter.com/cusfSAkhJE
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 13, 2025
Jorge Martin could not replicate Friday’s pace and ended up 11th, giving his teammate Bezzecchi a potentially crucial slipstream on his final lap, sealing Aprilia’s first pole of the season with a bit of teamwork.
Honda rider Joan Mir withdrew from Saturday’s action during Free Practice 2. Should he decide to star in Sunday’s Grand Prix race, he will have to start twelfth on the grid, benefiting from a direct Q2 qualification on Friday.
Miguel Oliveira and the Trackhouse duo of Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura rounded out the Top 15 as KTM endured a horrific start to Sprint Saturday.
Binder, Vinales and Bastianini, the latter due to a crash in Q1, will start outside the front five rows.
