Francesco Bagnaia recorded his third consecutive pole position after recording the fastest time at Circuit of the Americas, round 15 of 18 in the 2021 MotoGP World Championship.

The Ducati rider also ended Honda’s Marc Marquez perfect pole position record at Austin after clocking 2:02.781s during the later stage of Q2.

Championship leader, Fabio Quartararo, will start at P2 in a bid to retain his lead against Bagnaia, with the two separated by just 48 points.

Meanwhile, despite clocking the fast time during the earlier stage of Q2, Marquez was push back by Bagnaia and Quartararo to start at P3.

However, it was a positive result for the Spaniard, who returned to the front row 441 days later since the 2020 Spanish GP.

Pramac’s Jorge Martin appears as the second-fastest Ducati rider on the grid and will start at P4, followed by Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami (P5).

Surprisingly, Jack Miller, who was fast all weekend, could only manage the tenth place and was visibly furious at the end of the session.