Fabio Quartararo beat his own record time around Jerez to win a thrilling qualifying fight with Maverick Vinales and Marc Marquez at MotoGP’s season-opening Spanish Grand Prix.
Quartararo and Marquez had fought for pole initially, with the Petronas SRT Yamaha rider 0.013s up on the reigning champion’s Honda after the first runs in Q2.
Marquez immediately beat Quartararo when they dashed out for their final pole shots, with Quartararo failing to improve at first.
Then factory Yamaha rider Vinales leapt up from fourth to upstage both with a 1m36.844s lap that put him on provisional pole.
Marquez’s next attempt came up 0.018s short of retaking the top spot, before Quartararo threw in a final 1m36.705s to repeat his 2019 Jerez pole and push Vinales and Marquez down to second and third.
Francesco Bagnaia achieved a MotoGP career-best fourth on the grid on his Pramac Ducati, leading the Desmosedici contingent and holding a front row spot until Vinales’ gains.
Both Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller and factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso crashed in Q2, though Miller – despite his high-speed tumble – still secured fifth on the grid.
But Dovizioso only starts eighth, while his works team-mate Danilo Petrucci failed to even get out of Q1 and ended up 14th on the grid.
The most concerning crash of Q2 happened to Alex Rins. The Suzuki rider – who had been fastest in Q1 before crashing in that session too – had a violent accident at the same spot as Miller and appeared to be nursing an injury afterwards. He is ninth on the grid for now, three places ahead of team-mate Joan Mir.
Cal Crutchlow’s LCR Honda completes row two alongside the Pramac Ducatis, followed by the leading KTM of Pol Espargaro.
Valentino Rossi lines up 11th, one place behind his likely 2021 SRT team-mate Franco Morbidelli.
Aprilia’s underwhelming – considering its promising testing form – start to the actual season continued with Aleix Espargaro only 16th on the grid.
Team-mate Smith improved on his practice form to qualify just two places behind Espargaro, despite his session ending with the crash.
Johann Zarco was another to fall in Q1, with his accident meaning he’ll start his first race for Ducati only 20th and a place behind Avintia team-mate Tito Rabat.
Moto2 world champion and factory Honda rider for now Alex Marquez starts 21st for his MotoGP debut, with only fellow rookie Iker Lecuona’s Tech3 KTM behind him.
Qualifying Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Group 1 | Group 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabio Quartararo | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | 1m36.705s | |
| 2 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 1m36.844s | |
| 3 | Marc Marquez | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1m36.862s | |
| 4 | Francesco Bagnaia | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1m36.955s | |
| 5 | Jack Miller | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1m37.453s | |
| 6 | Cal Crutchlow | LCR Honda | Honda | 1m37.454s | |
| 7 | Pol Espargaró | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1m37.258s | 1m37.493s |
| 8 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1m37.535s | |
| 9 | Alex Rins | Team Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 1m37.063s | 1m37.636s |
| 10 | Franco Morbidelli | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | 1m37.674s | |
| 11 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 1m37.741s | |
| 12 | Joan Mir | Team Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 1m37.784s | |
| 13 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 1m37.396s | |
| 14 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1m37.423s | |
| 15 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda | Honda | 1m37.434s | |
| 16 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 1m37.94s | |
| 17 | Miguel Oliveira | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | 1m37.964s | |
| 18 | Bradley Smith | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 1m37.966s | |
| 19 | Tito Rabat | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1m38.029s | |
| 20 | Johann Zarco | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1m38.106s | |
| 21 | Alex Marquez | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1m38.256s | |
| 22 | Iker Lecuona | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | 1m38.512s |
