Nakagami beats Morbidelli to score maiden MotoGP pole

LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami scored his maiden MotoGP pole position in Teruel Grand Prix qualifying at Aragon.

A 1m46.882s for Nakagami was enough to give him pole by 0.063s, as he snapped Yamaha’s streak of five consecutive poles and recorded Honda’s first of the season.

None of the main quartet of championship contenders made the front row, with Yamaha’s two leading riders Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo on row two, Joan Mir last in Q2 and Andrea Dovizioso being left behind in Q1.

Quickest on Friday and top two in both of Saturday’s practice sessions, the in-form Nakagami bagged provisional pole on the first runs of the second qualifying segment, as he recorded a 1m47.072s.

He followed that up with the first sub-1m47s lap at the chequered flag, and though Franco Morbidelli soon joined him in that range, Nakagami had enough in hand to celebrate pole.

Behind Nakagami and Petronas Yamaha rider Morbidelli, Aragon GP winner Alex Rins completed the front row, having followed Quartararo on his final lap.

Quartararo himself was consigned to sixth, behind a late-improving Vinales and Avintia Ducati rider Johann Zarco, who had crashed on his final attempt.

Nakagami’s team-mate Cal Crutchlow took seventh and will be joined on the third row by a pair of KTM riders – Tech3’s Miguel Oliveira and factory rider Pol Espargaro, who had to use a medium rear on his fastest lap after having to battle through Q1.

Aragon GP runner-up Alex Marquez was 10th, with Oliveira’s team-mate Iker Lecuona and Mir completing the Q2 order.

Crutchlow, Marquez, Oliveira and Mir all had fastest laps deleted due to yellow flags for Zarco’s crash, but they were reinstated some time after the session.

There was no repeat of an unwanted tow behind Dovizioso this time in Q1, and instead he even got Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller to lend him a slipstream for the second run – yet this wasn’t enough to prevent Dovizioso’s fifth Q1 exit of the campaign.

Miller had taken a commanding early lead in Q1, but was unable to improve late on as he towed Dovizioso around, and was eventually demoted out of the top two by the Espargaro brothers.

But while Pol’s 1m47.071s was enough to ensure comfortable passage to Q2, his brother and Aprilia counterpart Aleix was immediately pipped by Zarco and forced to settle for 13th on the grid.

A livid Miller was resigned to joining him on the fourth row, with KTM rookie Brad Binder completing the top 15.

Dovizioso was beaten also by Honda’s stand-in Stefan Bradl and will start 17th, ahead of fellow Ducati GP20 riders Francesco Bagnaia and Danilo Petrucci.

Qualifying Results