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<\/p>\nPecco Bagnaia took pole position for the Czech Grand Prix’s return to MotoGP, as Marc Marquez crashed out at the final moment.<\/p>\n
Bagnaia looked in strife going through Q1 but ran off-sequence to power into the pole shootout, then repeated the strategy to bag his first pole of the season.<\/p>\n
So formidable had Marquez looked this weekend – with dry running limited and the ‘fresh’ track favouring him – that nine of his Q2 rivals lined up behind him in a train during the first exit, with only Joan Mir cut somewhat adrift from the group and Fabio Quartararo choosing to run totally solo.<\/p>\n
But Bagnaia abandoned the attempt to run in the pack, coming into the pits to instead run on a clear track a few minutes later – and it enabled him to move two tenths clear of Marquez.<\/p>\n
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He then slotted in right behind his team-mate as Marquez was winding up for a lap, leading to the slightly farcical situation in which Bagnaia and Alex Marquez were jockeying for track position behind the championship leader.<\/p>\n
Marc’s first flying lap was scratched off immediately due to yellow flags at Turn 1, brought out by Marco Bezzecchi’s third crash of the weekend as he and his Aprilia arrived at the airfence at very slow speed after trundling through the gravel.<\/p>\n
It all went wrong for Bez at T1 \ud83d\udca5#CzechGP<\/a> \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddff pic.twitter.com\/jkROb8TE1S<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MotoGP\u2122\ud83c\udfc1 (@MotoGP) July 19, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n There was enough time left for another go at that point, and Marc was immediately on course for provisional pole – while Bagnaia ran much slower behind him, compromising Alex in the process.<\/p>\n Arriving into to the final two corners, the elder Marquez then went down at Turn 13, going into the gravel at speed, unhurt.<\/p>\n HIGH DRAMA! @marcmarquez93<\/a> goes down while on course for pole \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udca5#CzechGP<\/a> \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddff pic.twitter.com\/PpgBZFuRYe<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MotoGP\u2122\ud83c\udfc1 (@MotoGP) July 19, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n He described it as a crash of “distraction”. LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco had crashed in effectively the same place mere moments prior, and was lucky that his crash trajectory was different to that of Marquez’s, but the championship leader is in no danger of a penalty for crashing under yellows because his onboard suggests the yellow flag was not yet deployed at the moment he was arriving at Turn 13.<\/p>\n It means he is due to start second, with Quartararo completing the front row on the Yamaha.<\/p>\n Bezzecchi will line up fourth despite his crash, followed by Honda’s Joan Mir and Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez – both with standout qualifying efforts, with Fernandez having come through Q1 with Bagnaia.<\/p>\n Confirming it’s Q2 despite what you’re seeing \ud83d\ude05#CzechGP<\/a> \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddff pic.twitter.com\/XurWtUUyS4<\/a><\/p>\n