Fabio Di Giannantonio takes Brazilian GP Pole as Bagnaia crashes during MotoGP Qualifying
Photo by Hazrin Yeob Men Shah/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio secured pole for the 2026 MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix, a session marked by multiple crashes, including one involving Francesco Bagnaia. Marco Bezzecchi was forced to come through Q1 after struggling in Friday’s rain-hit practice session, but he quickly found his pace. The Aprilia rider set an early benchmark in Q1 and continued to look sharp into the second part of qualifying.
Di Giannantonio, who also advanced from Q1, made the most of the additional track time to claim pole position for Brazil’s first MotoGP race since 1992. His lap of 1:17. 410 was just enough to edge out Bezzecchi by 0.
070 seconds, with the Italian posting a best time of 1:17. 480. Fabio Di Giannantonio grabs pole position for 2026 MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix Photo by Gold & Goose Photography/Getty Images Bagnaia got caught out in the early part of Q2, with the Ducati rider crashing at Turn 9.
He pushed too hard through the left-hand kink and found himself in the gravel trap. KTM’s Pedro Acosta also found trouble soon after, tucking the front at Turn 4. Marc Marquez then had a similar issue at T4, pushing too hard on his Ducati GP26 and ending up in the gravel as well.
Marquez had already set a time before his crash, which put him second behind Di Giannantonio by just 0. 071s. But Bezzecchi soon moved ahead of Marquez as the session went on.