Aprilia Racing’s Marco Bezzecchi captured pole position for the 2025 Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimão after a dramatic Q2 session that saw Alex Marquez crash late while on a potential pole lap.
The Italian’s 1’37.556 stood as the benchmark throughout the final minutes, remaining there until the very end, placing Bezzecchi ahead of Pedro Acosta and Fabio Quartararo on a second front row without a single Ducati in three rounds.
Acosta’s Red Bull KTM came closest to challenging, the Spaniard delivering a 1’37.706 to secure second on the grid and his first front row start since the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix.
Judging by how he blitzed his rivals at the start in the previous rounds, KTM’s best should be the clear favorites to lead the field into turn one in both the sprint and the Grand Prix on Sunday.
The surprise came from Fabio Quartararo, who stormed through Q1 before finding another eight-tenths on his final Q2 run, piecing together one of his many magical qualifying laps this season. The Frenchman will start from the front row for the tenth time this season.
Francesco Bagnaia’s weekend was on the brink of turning sour on Saturday already when, with just two minutes left on the clock in Q2, the Italian found himself outside the top ten.
Under pressure, though, Bagnaia performed and put in a 1’37.935, ultimately even losing what looked like a place on the front row to a messy final sector: fourth on the grid and best Ducati rider.
Alex Marquez had looked in control midway through the session after going fastest with a 1’37.9, a late crash at Turn 4 ending the Spaniard’s challenge for pole prematurely, missing out on a final time attack run.
Take a look at what happened to @alexmarquez73 💥👇#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/kqMfZjcNBm
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 8, 2025
Not all hope is lost for the championship runner-up, though; his previous best of 1’37.987 being enough to secure fifth on the grid.
Johann Zarco placed sixth for LCR Honda ahead of Joan Mir on the factory RC213V. Jack Miller, advancing from Q1 alongside Quartararo, took eighth on the Pramac Yamaha.
Fabio di Giannantonio and Pol Espargaro completed the top ten, while Fermin Aldeguer and Ai Ogura finished within a second of Bezzecchi’s time in eleventh and twelfth.
