Fabio Di Giannantonio secures shock Grand Prix of Brazil pole, Marco Bezzecchi second and world champion Marc Marquez third
Published 21/03/2026 at 15:32 GMT
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VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio was quickest in qualifying on Saturday ahead of the day's Sprint race at the Grand Prix of Brazil. The Italian recorded his first pole position since the 2022 season, with Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi in second position on the grid, followed by current world champion, Ducati Lenovo's Marc Marquez. His team-mate Francesco Bagnaia struggled once more and was 11th
'You'd think that Brazil had scored a goal in the Word Cup final!' - VR46 celebrate Brazil pole
Video credit: TNT Sports
Fabio Di Giannantonio secured a surprise pole position at the Grand Prix of Brazil on Saturday afternoon.
The VR46 team secured their first pole of the season for the Ducati manufacturer, with the Ducati Lenovo factory team represented in third place by current world champion, Marc Marquez.
Di Giannantonio had to battle from Q1 after struggling in the previous day’s Practice session, earning his second career pole position - his first since the Italian Grand Prix in 2022.
Riders continued to struggle despite the dry weather throughout the session, because the previous days of heavy rain continued to cause wet patches to persist across the track, which caused regular problems as the bikes slipped off the track.
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'You can't get away with it here' - Marquez crashes during Grand Prix of Brazil qualifying
Video credit: TNT Sports
Marquez went off late on in Q2, but he appeared unhurt and able to return to the track, as his improving fitness gave him the platform to secure a place on the third row.
Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi, who had to start during the Q1 session after a poor Practice session on Friday, was second quickest.
The second row was made up by Monster Energy Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, with former world champion Jorge Martin (Aprilia) in fifth spot. The last place on the second row went to another Aprilia rider, Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura, who continues to impress in his second season in MotoGP.
BK8 Gresini duo Fermin Aldeguer and Alex Marquez, and Pedro Acosta (KTM), were in seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, with Friday's quickest man, Johann Zarco, in 10th. Francesco Bagnaia, the second Ducati Lenovo rider, was in 11th place as he also suffered a crash of his own, while Yamaha's Toprak Razgatlioglu's encouraging MotoGP career continued as he was 12th quickest.
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'A huge, huge crash' - Bagnaia walks away from heavy fall at Grand Prix of Brazil qualifying
Video credit: TNT Sports
'Super tricky' conditions challenging riders - Hodgson
Speaking before the action, TNT Sports pundit Neil Hodgson explained why the track provided such a challenge for all the riders.
As well as being a new venue for this current crop of MotoGP riders, the particular nature of the track means that it is yet to properly dry out.
He said: ”It's super tricky, because we've ended up with these damp patches. The problem is the water is seeping from underneath the track.
”We've had a ridiculous... in the last few weeks, we've had a lot of rain. We've had the weather where the track has been completely flooded.
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”The track has dried with the heat and the temperature, but then unfortunately the weepers are coming through. They don't go away, you cannot get rid of them. The problem is the slick tyres. If you go over a damp patch with slick tyres, you can crash.”
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'You can crash' - Hodgson warns riders after 'ridiculous' weather at Grand Prix of Brazil
Video credit: TNT Sports
Sylvain Guintoli added, saying the track was, ”Really dangerous, and it can really catch you out. The problem is, because it's not rained since yesterday, those wet patches are a lot smaller, and the riders sometimes don't see them. They're not used to the attack either, because this is a new venue for everybody.
”We've seen a lot of riders getting caught, and big crashes out of nowhere. And that's not what we want to see, and it's a real problem. They're very likely to catch more riders and, hopefully, we don't get any more injuries.”
Di Gigiannantonio will now start on pole for Saturday’s Sprint race, as well as Sunday’s full-length race.
Stream every race of the 2026 Brazil Grand Prix live on TNT Sports and discovery+
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