Factory Ducati MotoGP rider Francesco Bagnaia claimed a crucial pole position for the Barcelona Grand Prix, while championship leader Jorge Martin could only qualify fourth.
Bagnaia set a time of 1m38.641s on his final flying lap around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Q2, which was enough to beat track specialist Aleix Espargaro by 0.055s.
Italian Bagnaia had led the way from the very beginning of qualifying, grabbing the top spot with an impressive time of 1m38.835s on his first run.
Gresini’s Marc Marquez took a tow from Bagnaia to put himself provisionally up to second, while Martin likewise got a slipstream from Espargaro to put himself on the front row at the halfway point of the session.
For the final runs, Bagnaia again preferred to ride unaided after fitting a fresh rear tyre on his GP24, even as Marquez and Franco Morbidelli followed him out of the pits.
The strategy paid dividends as he managed to shave another two-tenths off his previous time, without being distracted by a rider running in front of him.
Aprilia’s Espargaro appeared a serious threat to Bagnaia in his final MotoGP qualifying appearance, but the Spaniard’s best effort of 1m38.696s wasn’t enough to displace the Ducati from the top.
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
In third place came Marquez on the Gresini Ducati, the six-time champion taking advantage of a slipstream from Bagnaia to book himself a slot on the front row.
Championship leader Martin could do no better than fourth on the Pramac Ducati, two tenths off Bagnaia’s lap, but a 24-point lead in the championship means he can still theoretically wrap up the title in Saturday’s sprint.
After coming all the way from Q1, Morbidelli was able to qualify in a strong fifth place thanks to the double tow he got from Bagnaia and Marquez, beating the top Tech3 GasGas bike of Pedro Acosta.
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales was the last to cross the finish line and secured seventh on the grid, ahead of the factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini and the VR46 GP23 of Marco Bezzecchi.
Fabio Quartararo put in a solid effort on the Yamaha to round out the top 10, while Gresini’s Alex Marquez could only finish 11th after crashing in the first two minutes of qualifying.
LCR rider Johann Zarco couldn’t build up on his practice pace and ended up an anonymous 12th with a lap that was eight-tenths slower than Bagnaia’s pole time.
Factory Honda rider Joan Mir missed out on a spot into Q2 by just 0.028s, leaving him 13th on the grid ahead of the returning Miguel Oliveira on the Trackhouse Aprilia.
Alex Rins was classified 15th for Yamaha ahead of Mir’s team-mate Luca Marini and Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez, who had qualified on the front row in the Catalan GP in May.
KTM had a nightmare qualifying session in Barcelona, with Brad Binder languishing in 18th place and Jack Miller ending up 19th after a late crash in Q1.