GOIANIA, Brazil, March 21 (Reuters) - VR46 Racing's Fabio Di Giannantonio claimed pole position on Saturday for the Brazilian Grand Prix, while defending champion Marc Marquez will start third after a crash-filled qualifying session.
The 27-year-old Italian clocked the fastest lap of one minute 17.410 seconds at the Ayrton Senna Circuit in Goiania, as MotoGP returned to Brazil for the first time in more than two decades for the second round of the 2026 season.
An AS Roma supporter, Di Giannantonio secured the second pole position of his MotoGP career - and did so in front of Brazilian soccer great Cafu, who played for the Italian club between 1997-2003.
"It's a crazy day, coming here to such a beautiful country and taking my second pole position after a long time," Di Giannantonio said. "I'm super happy. And having Cafu is a surprise - it's a great honour and a real pleasure, especially as a Roma fan."
Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi, who won the season-opening Thai MotoGP, will line up second.
"It was a good qualifying, but it's always super tough because so many riders are very quick," Bezzecchi said.
"It helped us, but it was also difficult to manage. Fortunately, we made it through and the team did a great job. We understood what was wrong yesterday, and today I felt a bit better.
"Still, I don't think my pace is strong enough yet. I didn't have much time to work on it, but we'll see - we'll wait for the sprint and try to make the most of what we have."
Marquez, chasing a strong result after his DNF in Thailand, will start third, while his teammate and two-times MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia struggled once again and qualified 11th.
Frenchman Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha and 2024 MotoGP champion Jorge Martin completed the top five.
The session was marked by several crashes, with Bagnaia, Pedro Acosta, Marquez, Martin and Di Giannantonio among those to go down.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
