For the first time in two and a half years, Fabio Quartararo has taken pole position for a MotoGP race.
When Fabio Quartararo was last on pole, there were no sprint races, Pecco Bagnaia hadn’t won a world championship, and Marco Bezzcchi and Fabio DiGiannantonio were a fresh-faced rookie. It may feel like a long time ago to us, but it’s likely felt even longer for Quartararo!
Today, he is back on top in a qualifying session, surprising everyone with his pole lap. He set a blistering time of 1:25.610, which was 0.033s faster than the next best rider.
That rider, who will line up second tomorrow, is Marc Marquez. He looked somewhat dejected when speaking to the media, potentially as he was unable to treat his home fans to a Spanish pole. It was the final sector that stopped Marquez from taking pole today, but he looked blisteringly fast round the rest of the lap.
Both the Marquez brothers started their Q2 adventure with a costly error – both Marc and Alex Marquez exited the pitlane while the red light was still on, landing them a €2,000 fine. Marc noticed their mistake, quickly grabbing the breaks, but Alex did not. That meant the younger Marquez also had his first lap of the session cancelled, as he was deemed to have gained an advantage.
Rounding out the front row is Pecco Bagnaia, who was 0.145s away from pole and still yet to get his title fight really up and running. However, having won the last 3 races here, his weekend is by no means over. When speaking to the media, he told them he felt he was at “85%”, so the Italian clearly still has pace he is eager to find.
Coming off the back of a stunning performance in Qatar, with a 5th place, rookie Fermin Aldeguer was on top form again today. He was setting fastest sectors again and again, but couldn’t quite put them together into one fast lap. He lines up in a still-impressive 7th.
Pedro Acosta, the newest home hero for Spain, almost lost the bike on the final sector of his final flying lap. He, somehow, managed to keep the bike upright but will have to settle for 12th place on the starting grid.
There were, as is normal this year, some big names in Q1 and our progressors were Maverick Vinales and Marco Bezecchi – Vinales put in a strong Q2 performance to take 6th place.
Feature Image Credit: MotoGP
