(Reuters) – Rookie Pedro Acosta took the first pole of his MotoGP career, taking the lap record from Marc Marquez, who went off track, as championship leader Jorge Martin crashed in the Japanese Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday.
GasGas Tech3’s Acosta completed his seventh lap in one minute and 43.018 seconds, while Marquez, who had previously clocked one minute and 42.868 seconds, lost his time due to going off track in the fourth turn.
“Super nice… we see that in the last three, four races we are able to put everything together and getting more competitive,” Acosta said in a post-qualifying interview.
Defending champion Francesco Bagnaia put in a steady sixth lap of one minute and 43.264 seconds to take the second place on the grid.
Gresini Racing’s Marquez will start in ninth place while Martin, who crashed on the ninth turn, will be in 11th.
Marquez’s brother and teammate Alex Marquez managed to avoid a crash when Martin tried to overtake him from the inside on turn 10 and hit his shoulder.
Pramac Racing’s Martin, who leads Ducati’s Bagnaia by 21 points in the championship, will start one place behind Alex on the grid.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)
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