Quartararo beats Miller by 0.037s for fifth straight pole

Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo recorded his fifth consecutive MotoGP pole in Barcelona, albeit by just 0.037s over Ducati’s Jack Miller.

Championship leader Quartararo took the lead early in Q2, establishing a four-tenths gap at the head of a provisional Yamaha 1-2-3.

But Miller – who had just narrowly escaped Q1 – lapped just 0.037s off in the final minutes and wound up for another fast lap, only to hit the deck at Turn 3 and leave Quartararo safe in first at the chequered flag.

There was a late challenge from Johann Zarco and the Pramac Ducati man was a tenth up on Quartararo coming into the final sector, but Zarco – whose final lap appeared to feature a rather aggressive Turn 10 overtake on Brad Binder – ultimately had to settle for third.

Miguel Oliveira was the top KTM in fourth, followed by the Yamahas of Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales.

Binder had to settle for eighth and will start in the middle of the third row, between Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.

Reigning champion Joan Mir, competing this weekend as the sole Suzuki, looked to have salvaged a good result by elevating himself to third late on, only to get shuffled down to an eventual 10th.

He was ahead only of the two Q2 crashers – Valentino Rossi, who fell while running behind Franco Morbidelli early on, and Pol Espargaro, who hit the deck on his second run.

Like in the corresponding session last weekend at Mugello, Marc Marquez again picked a target – this time the Ducati of Miller – to follow all throughout the Q1. Miller saw the funny side of it, too, making a ‘pay me’ finger gesture to Marquez as they headed out of the pits in tandem.

"How much for a slipstream?" 😂@jackmilleraus heads out for Q1, closely followed by a certain @marcmarquez93! 👀#CatalanGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/oaYQeNDMWV

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 5, 2021

It was close to working out for Marquez in the end, as he was just 0.028s off Miller’s Q1 topping-time set at the chequered flag – yet his team-mate Pol Espargaro had himself tucked in behind the two and slotted in a hundredths ahead of Marquez, advancing to Q2 instead.

Takaaki Nakagami was the top rider in Q1 as the chequred flag flew, but was shuffled down to fourth by the Miller/Marquez/Espargaro pack.

The returning Jorge Martin, who had been forced to miss four MotoGP races after an injury in Portimao practice, completed the top 15 as the highest-placed of Ducati’s three rookies.

High-speed crash for @LecuonaIker! 💢

The Spaniard is up on his feet, but his second place is under threat! 👀#CatalanGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/crU9gOkPI1

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 5, 2021

Tech3 rider Iker Lecuona was in one of Q1’s two transfer spots when he fell at Turn 9 at speed, his RC16 bouncing off the inflated barrier. Lecuona – who also crashed in the pre-qualifying FP4 along with Martin and Aleix Espargaro – will start 16th.

Qualifying Results