MotoGP returns to Spain for the second time this season with the action shifting to the Catalunya Circuit just outside Barcelona. After the practice rounds conducted on Friday and earlier today, focus moved to the qualifiers where fate for the upcoming Sprint race later today and the main race tomorrow were decided.
At the end of both the qualifying rounds, homeboy hero Aleix Espargaro snatched the pole position by recording the fastest lap of the session at 1 min 38.190 seconds, that too in the final lap of Qualifier 2 (Q2). What also makes this super special is that this will be Espargaro’s last run in front of his home crowd before bowing out at the end of this season.
Bagnaia joins Espargaro alongside Fernandez in R1
Reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia set the tone of Q2 with his strong start before Espargaro stormed in his final lap and stole his thunder moments before the finish line. The Ducati Lenovo racer set strong lap time trailing Espargaro by only 0.031 seconds and will now find himself in the front row alongside the Aprilia Racer.
Rounding off the first row tomorrow will be Raul Fernandez who finished in third place trailing Espargaro by 0.071 seconds. The Ducati Trackouse racer had an impressive run in Free Practice 2 and Q2 and after having a lap reinstated. After a knock-on in Q2, KTM’s Brand Binder was penalised, dropping to the fourth spot.
In the extremely fast round of Q1, Fabio Di Giannantonio’s late surge helped him push to the top of the table with a fastest lap timing of 1 minute 38.208 seconds, but more importantly resulting in a hard-earned spot in Q2. Using all his experience in Q1, Di Giannantonio ended at the fifth spot in Q2.
Double blow to Prima Pramac Racing
Prima Pramac Racing could have asked for anything worse as both its racers Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli crashed out of Q2 in turn 2 just seconds apart from each other. This brought out the yellow flags, cancelling lap times and forcing Espargaro to leave it late to storm to pole position on his final flying lap.
The crash resulted in Martin, current leader of the points table of the ongoing season, dropping to seventh place. Martin will start next to Alex Rins, the only Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ Team racer in Q2. Alex and brother Marc Marques had a disappointing run after attaining the 5th and 6th spots.
After a much talked-about transfer earlier this season from Repsol Honda to Gresini Racing, Marc Marques is finding it hard to return to form as he starts from the fifth row for the second consecutive race weekend. All eyes now on the sprint race later today.
| 1 | ALEIX ESPARGARO (APRILIA RACING) | 1:38.190 |
| 2 | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) | +0.031 |
| 3 | Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) | +0.071 |
| 4 | Brad Binder (Red Bull Factory Racing) | +0.144 |
| 5 | Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) | +0.179 |
| 6 | Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) | +0.210 |
| 7 | Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) | +0.211 |
| 8 | Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) | +0.502 |
| 9 | Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) | +0.573 |
| 10 | Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) | +0.588 |