The stands of the Catalan Grand Prix witnessed an epic qualifying session today, which featured a fantastic effort from the young KTM rider, Pedro Acosta and Aprilia getting its fill of frustration and crashes. Acosta was fast, confident and quiet amid the tension of the weekend at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, one day after leaving the re-sit for his motorcycle in a race in which he placed on the grid for the second time this season to become one of the sport’s fastest emerging riders.

Spanish rider was the all round star of Q2. But every time it came close rivals would find it hard to catch him, as Acosta willingly came up with another quick lap. At the other end of the spectrum, wild cards Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi had at the end of the other qualifying race thoroughly disrupted the mountain duel setting the field for Sunday’s race.

The first is that Acosta didn’t miss a beat in setting the pace for qualifying. The factory KTM rider immediately broke his yesteryear opening lap record of 1m38.397s with a 1m38.390s flight. This timid start put his and KTM way ahead of the pack and demonstrated a decent rhythm on the Barcelona track.

Fabio di Giannantonio briefly had his shot at the Spaniard and Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez kicked off to the top of the line early in the session. Acosta, however, played like a veteran. Shortly afterwards, Marquez advanced and the KTM rider sizzled a momentary 1m38.118s lap, ensnaring him within the margin of just under half a tenth of a second to take the lead once again.

Acosta held on to his lead in the closing moments of qualifying as well. The pressure from a number of Ducati riders behind him only made Acosta feel more aggressive late in the session and he lowered the record to 1m38.068s. His last lap earned his first pole of the season and KTM’s best night in qualifying this year.

But at Aprilia’s hot seat became complete bedlam with Acosta celebrating. Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was lucky to survive a potentially frightening collision at Turn 2 at five minutes’ to the end of Q2. The Italian rider lost it as he was coming into the turn and rolled barrel through the gravel trap setting off yellow flags and ruining several flying laps.

Bezzecchi didn’t sustain serious injuries and was able to keep going, but the crash ended their chance at the pole. He finished 12th after a few other drivers caught up in the last few laps. This was a major defeat for the top seed in a good position to run this year’s season.

Aprilia’s disappointments were not over yet. Fellow Brazilian Jorge Martin suffered from another rough ordeal in practice, with crashes sweeping a hat trick over the weekend. Martin had been quick in Q1, and now seemed to be cruising in to make a strong finish in the final qualifying stint. However, another occurrence when he broke his main bike at the fifth turn, on the cooldown lap meant disaster again.

The incident rattled Martin’s rhythm late in qualifying.The incident upset the rhythm of Martin in the final stages of qualifying. The French Grand Prix winner managed to come to the start only 9th after his ability during the practice sessions.

Meanwhile, Franco MORBIDELLI had one of the surprises of the day as he qualified 2nd for VR46 Ducati. Morbidelli made the best qualifying drive of the year so far, scoring his first qualifying first for the first time this season before Valentino Rossi was in the garage. Other than a fantastic kick-off, Alex Marquez finished first in the grid courtesy of another stellar shift.

Towing it on down the order, Fabio Quartararo kept on pushing forward for Yamaha, leading into seventh, while Johann Zarco once again captained Honda’s push for the lead, in fifth. It was another strong qualifying ride from Brad Binder to make sure KTM were represented by 2 riders in the top 8.

Francesco Bagnaia is one of the disappointment of the biggest sort. The Ducati factory rider also assisted teammate Morbidelli on a slipstream during the Q1 but didn’t pick up the pace sufficiently to make make it to Q2. Bagnaia will come into the race only after the 13th, making for a huge difficulty a few days later on Sunday.

Lastly, the qualifying on Saturday showed exactly how much this year’s season of MotoGP has become unpredictable. The thrills generated by Acosta highlighted KTM’s increasing competitiveness, while Aprilia’s skinned knees illustrated the power of changing fortune in a high-pressure situation. After Martin and Bezzecchi both opened wide from the back, the Catalan Grand Prix is currently wide open on race day.

But Pedro Acosta comes into Sunday with momentum, confidence and best chance ever to turn raw speed into a statement win. If his qualification has any inkling of truth, then the young Spaniard can take a run at the top dogs in MotoGP much quicker than anticipated.

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