A pole position with an average speed of almost 200 km/h

Qualifying is becoming increasingly important in modern MotoGP. Due to the few overtaking opportunities in the race, it is crucial to be at the front of the field on the first lap. The MotoGP stars therefore attach great importance to a perfect time attack in qualifying. The further development of the bikes, tires and tracks also means that new record laps are constantly being set. This year, too, new all-time bests have been set in five of the seven qualifying sessions.

But who actually holds the record for the fastest pole position ever achieved in MotoGP? If we go by pure lap time, Francesco Bagnaia holds this record. In July 2022, the Ducati rider lapped the Sachsenring in 1:19.931 minutes. Before that, he even beat this value by 0.166 tenths of a second – but in free practice and not in qualifying.

Admittedly, the Sachsenring offers the best conditions for such a record time, as its 3.67-kilometer track length is by far the shortest track on the motorcycle world championship racing calendar. In order to finally answer the question of the fastest qualifying time, we take the length of the tracks into account and calculate the highest average speed.

When looking into the archives of the ‘Official Timekeeper of MotoGP’, Tissot, it is clear that in terms of average speed, the roller coaster ride at the German Grand Prix, at 165.2 km/h, is not one of the top candidates. Other tracks such as Mugello, Phillip Island and Silverstone have better values ​​due to their fluid layout. However, the fastest qualifying lap in MotoGP was not set on any of the candidates mentioned.

Until 2021, the Red Bull Ring in Austria is the MotoGP track on which the fastest times were achieved considering the length of the track. The reason is obvious: the high proportion of full throttle and only ten corners allow the MotoGP rockets to show their full power. For the 2022 season, however, an additional chicane was established in Styria to defuse the dangerous braking zone at turn three. This logically also had a major impact on the average speed.

Before the conversion, Jorge Martin set the pole position record at the Red Bull Ring in 2021 with a lap time of 1:22.643 minutes on the Pramac Ducati. His average speed over the 4.318-kilometer lap was an incredible 188 kilometers per hour – a value that has not been achieved to this day.

The ‘Martinator’ will probably not have to give up this record any time soon. The second fastest pole lap is a long way behind with an average speed of 183.6 km/h. It comes from the Australian MotoGP track on Phillip Island. There, the 4.45 kilometers were lapped in 2023 in a time of 1:27.246 minutes – also by Jorge Martin.

Third and fourth place go to the Chang International Circuit in Thailand and the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello with 182.6 km/h and 180.8 km/h respectively. The lowest average speed is recorded at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. Maverick Vinales set the best qualifying lap there in 2023 with an average speed of 162.3 km/h.