History was made at the Gran Premio Red Bull De España in Jerez as Fabio Quatararo became the youngest pole sitter in MotoGP history. Setting a new lap record and claiming his maiden pole, Quatararo set a hugely impressive time of 1:36.880. This places him just 0.082 ahead of his Petronas Yamaha team-mate, Franco Morbidelli.
Reigning champion, Marc Marquez posted one, single fast lap. A time of 1:36.970 was good enough to leave him at the top of the timing sheets for part of the session. When his second run came, Marquez wasn’t able to improve, allowing both Yamaha’s to capitalise.
Quatararo’s fastest lap was entirely identical in time to Marquez’s, except for the 0.082s he found in the final sector. Morbidelli then placed himself in second, setting a time that was just 0.008s faster than Marquez.
Fourth place was taken by our championship leader, Andrea Dovisiozo, with Maverick Vinales the best of the works Yamahas in fifth. British rider, Cal Crutchlow, will start tomorrow’s race in sixth ahead of Danilo Petrucci in seventh.
The top ten will be rounded out by Takaaki Nakagami and rookie Pecco Bagnaia in eighth and tenth respectively. Our winner, last time out in COTA, Alex Rins will line up in ninth for the race in Jerez.
After a brilliant Friday, Jorge Lorenzo suffered a crash late in the session and will, consequently, line up in eleventh. He will start ahead of Joan Mir in twelfth.
Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi, shockingly, failed to make it into Q2. As a result, he was only able to secure thirteenth on the gird and lines up ahead of Stefan Bradl and Jack Miller who took fourteenth and fifteenth respectively.
Tomorrow’s race will kick off at 1pm (UK time) and The Checkered Flag will have all the latest updates!
