VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) -Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi set a track record at Circuit Ricardo Tormo on Saturday to clinch pole position for the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix, while two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia failed to reach Q2 after stopping with a technical issue.
Italian Bezzecchi, third in the standings behind champion Marc Marquez and his brother Alex, had been ninth in qualifying before he lit up the timing screens, finishing the lap at one minute and 28.089 seconds to secure his second pole position in a row.
Ducati's Bagnaia, fourth in the standings, was holding second in Q1 when he was forced to pull out.
"I tried to calm myself down, focused just on riding well and the bike worked perfectly," said Bezzecchi. "Now we can focus on the sprint and the GP for tomorrow. The track is super close... so, will be super tough."
Gresini Racing's Alex Marquez was just 0.026 seconds slower than Bezzecchi, while VR46 Racing's Fabio di Giannantonio was third, 0.018 seconds further behind.
Pedro Acosta shook off a crash during the second free practice session earlier in the day to place fifth, behind Raul Fernandez.
KTM's Acosta, who is fifth in the championship, just three points below Bagnaia, made a strong start in Q2, recording the fastest time on the first lap. But Alex soon took the lead, and held on to ensure second place.
"The track is not super fast, it's not super clean. It's difficult many times to understand where is the traction," said Alex.
"We'll try to give our best and learn from the mistakes."
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
