A motorcycle racer can sometimes, although very, very rarely, find perfect harmony with his machine. That happened to Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) earlier today when he set a new lap record at Jerez during qualifying. This topic deserves a bit more discussion.

Jerez is a track known by virtually every top Spanish rider like the back of his hand. The fastest riders in the world know this track intimately, and plenty of those riders have laid down nearly flawless laps on the finest motorcycles available in the Premier class. Setting a lap record at Jerez is something special indeed, but, Bagnaia didn’t just set a lap record … he obliterated the record by nearly half a second!

For this reason, MD is publishing the Ducati Lenovo Team press release below, so you can see the comments from Bagnaia who, apparently, still considers Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) the favorite for tomorrow’s race. Quartararo has four pole positions in a row at Jerez, but he couldn’t come close to Bagnaia today in qualifying. He will line up second, however, alongside Bagnaia and the third quickest qualifier Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia).

For full results of today’s qualifying, take a look here. You can find additional details on the MotoGP site. Stay tuned for MD’s race report tomorrow.

Here is the press release from the Ducati Lenovo Team:

Francesco Bagnaia dominated Day 2 of the Spanish GP, the sixth round of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship, held at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto in Andalucia this weekend.

After setting the fastest time in this morning’s FP3 and FP4 sessions, the Ducati Lenovo Team rider impressed everyone in qualifying as he scored an extraordinary record-breaking pole position. As he returned on track in the final minutes of Q2 with the soft tyre, Pecco rode impeccably, increasing his advantage in the last two sectors of the track and completing the lap in a sensational 1:36.170, 414 thousandths faster than the previous circuit record. It is Bagnaia’s seventh MotoGP pole position and his first this season, after the Algarve GP held in Portimão at the end of October last year.

Jack Miller will start from the second row of the grid from the fourth position. Tenth after FP3, the Australian rider also went straight into Q2, where he posted a good time in 1:37.049, missing the front row by just 116 thousandths.

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st (1:36.170)
“It was a perfect lap, maybe the best I’ve ever done in my career. I was able to push hard, and the bike followed me perfectly. Since the first race in Qatar, we have always worked well, and now we are at a very high level. Even if it took us a few races, we’re finally here in pole position. I don’t want to say I’m back because I’ve never gone away, but for sure, this season, we didn’t have an easy start. We needed to do laps with the new bike, and finally, we were able to show its true potential. I think Fabio Quartararo still has something more than us, but we got closer today. Let’s see how tomorrow’s race goes, as higher temperatures are expected than today.”

Jack Miller (#43 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 4th (1:37.049)
“I’m pretty satisfied. Nowadays, in MotoGP, it’s important to be able to start the race from the first two rows of the grid, so fourth place in qualifying definitely puts us in a good position for tomorrow. In FP4, I did a long run of 16 laps, and I was pretty consistent, although not very fast.  Before Q2, we made a modification that seems to have solved the issue. So I’m calm and confident that I can have a good race tomorrow”.

The MotoGP riders will be back on track tomorrow at 9:40am for a 20-minute warm-up, while the Spanish GP will get underway at 2:00pm CEST over a 25-lap distance.

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