Morbidelli on pole, main title contenders in the midfield

Petronas SRT Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli took pole position for the penultimate race of the MotoGP season at Valencia, as championship leader Joan Mir qualified only 12th.

Suzuki rider Mir needs to finish on the podium on Sunday to guarantee himself the 2020 title, while a win for Morbidelli will only be enough to keep him in contention if Mir finishes no higher than 11th.

Mir’s cause will be helped by his closest remaining title rivals Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins also qualifying badly.

Morbidelli’s pole was his second, and Yamaha’s ninth, of the season, and came by 0.096s over Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller.

Qualifying was impacted by varying levels of spitting rain throughout, which was never enough to force any of the riders onto wets but enough to change up grip levels.

Morbidelli’s team-mate Quartararo, who avoided a first-ever Q1 exit of his MotoGP career by two tenths, took the early lead in the pole shoot-out, although he ceded first place shortly afterwards to Tech3 KTM rider Miguel Oliveira.

A couple of minutes later, Q1 pacesetter Brad Binder moved to the front to make it a KTM 1-2 with his 2021 works team-mate, and Pol Espargaro then turned that into a KTM 1-2-3 by slotting into second place.

A 1m30.645s from Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales handed him the lead with three minutes left on the clock, but it was shortlived due to Miller producing a 1m30.287s.

But as Miller embarked on a cool-down lap, Morbidelli found another tenth of laptime, and Miller’s attempt to reclaim pole at the chequered flag was not enough.

LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami completed the front row, with Johann Zarco (Avintia Ducati) making it four Desmosedicis in the top four.

Espargaro and title hopeful Vinales complete row two behind Zarco, with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Ducati) and Binder making up row three.

Quartararo, due to his Q1 participation, had no fresh rear soft tyre to improve late on in Q2 and was shuffled all the way down to 11th, ending up half a tenth behind Oliveira.

Yet he was still ahead of Mir, who improved at the chequered flag but remained 0.797s off pole and a tenth off Quartararo to finish 12th and last in Q2.

As drops of rain became more severe towards the end of Q1, the session order was virtually frozen, which was great news for Quartararo but unfortunate for his fellow title contenders Rins and Andrea Dovizioso.

Rins ended up six tenths off progressing through Q1, and will start 14th, slotting in between Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Danilo Petrucci (Ducati).

Dovizioso was only 0.012s slower than Rins yet two other riders slotted into that gap, with Petrucci 0.010s quicker than Dovizioso and Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi just 0.003s quicker, leaving the three-time MotoGP championship runner-up 17th on the grid.

Prior to track conditions worsening, the first qualifying segment was punctuated by a brutal crash for Honda rider Alex Marquez, who was thrown violently off his RC213V at the Turn 11 right-hander.

Having somersaulted off his Honda as it stepped out, Marquez landed hard on his backside, and though he was fortunately avoided by Binder’s KTM right behind him, he nonetheless looked in serious pain and struggling to get up.

But as medical crews surrounded him, Marquez was soon back on his feet and looking in decent shape.

He then not only returned to the factory team’s garage, but went back out onto the track – but quickly called off his second run, settling for 20th on the grid.

Qualifying Results