Fabio Quartararo took an incredible pole position for the Yamaha MotoGP team in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying at Jerez.
Quartararo narrowly saw off championship leader Marc Marquez to record Yamaha's first pole in the premier class since Mandalika early on in the 2022 campaign.
Marc had followed brother Alex Marquez on the first run, and his first lap was already a demoralising 1m35.643s - a MotoGP record lap that put him two tenths clear in the pole fight heading into the second half of Q2.
The Marquez brothers ran in inverse order after rejoining the session, but neither could improve, the elder Marquez quickly rolling out and never quite managing to get back into rhythm.
None of his Ducati peers could threaten him but, remarkably, Quartararo could - first lapping close to the benchmark, then finding an extra bit of laptime to go 0.033s quicker with a 1m35.610s.
Pecco Bagnaia shrugged off a crash in pre-qualifying practice that left him with just one bike to place third in Q2, ahead of fellow Ducati riders Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli (who had had a big practice crash of his own).
Bagnaia suggested after the session that he may yet gain a grid position with both Marquez brothers having exited pitlane at the start of Q2 when it was still closed - but both ultimately got away with €2,000 fines.
Maverick Vinales on the Tech3 KTM had eased through Q1 and ultimately placed sixth, just 0.242s off pole but again as the lead KTM.
Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer and VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio made it all six Ducatis in the top eight, followed by the Honda duo of Joan Mir and Johann Zarco, and the Aprilia of Marco Bezzecchi - Zarco and Bezzecchi having followed Bagnaia on his fastest lap.
Pedro Acosta was only 12th in the pole shoot-out, following Vinales on that run but struggling to get a lap together before going into the gravel on his desperate last-ditch attempt.
Spanish GP grid
1 Quartararo 2 M Marquez 3 Bagnaia
4 A Marquez 5 Morbidelli 6 Vinales
7 Aldeguer 8 Di Giannantonio 9 Mir
10 Zarco 11 Bezzecchi 12 Acosta
13 Binder 14 Miller 15 Ogura
16 Marini 17 R Fernandez 18 Bastianini
19 Espargaro 20 A Fernandez 21 Chantra
22 Savadori 23 Rins
Former team-mates Brad Binder (KTM) and Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) both had promising laps get away from them in the final sector, so will start 13th and 14th ahead of Trackhouse Aprilia rookie Ai Ogura.
Honda tester Aleix Espargaro had his comeback qualifying compromised with an issue on his primary bike, though ultimately set reasonably competitive times - placing 19th.
Lorenzo Savadori, riding in relief of reigning champion Jorge Martin, had a strange outlap crash - but did secure the penultimate spot on the grid.
He'll line up ahead of Alex Rins, who crashed twice in pre-qualifying practice - the first crash a small tip-off at Turn 6, but the second one a much more severe fall at the fast Turn 4 - and sat out much of Q1 while being checked over in the medical centre.
A second FP2 crash for @Rins42 😱 Glad to see he's already up and walking#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/32RE4OHYOP
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) April 26, 2025
He made it back out there for just one final lap in the end, but it was nothing more than a nominal lap, leaving him 2.693s off the pace and last.
