Marc Márquez will start in pole position on home soil for the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Grand Prix of Spain. There was plenty of action across both qualifying sessions at the Circuito de Jerez—Ángel Nieto track. Read on for all the MotoGP qualifying results and highlights at the Spanish GP.
Wet Track Conditions Challenge Riders in Q1
In the earlier Free Practice 2 session, a brief burst of rain left much of the track damp. This added some late drama, including Brad Binder’s crash at Turn 8. The South African was uninjured but was left with only one bike for qualifying. On the other side of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing garage, Pedro Acosta had topped the previous session. However, both riders had to battle it out in Q1. Of course, the #37 rider was the prime candidate to advance to Q2. The question was: who would join him?
It was an early mistake from Franco Morbidelli down in Sector 3, affecting the laps of those behind him. The rain returned, leaving no chance for a change to slick tyres. Unfortunately, Jack Miller, usually confident in the wet, slid out in Turn 13. The Australian sprinted back down the entire length of the pit lane to the Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP garage.
Another rider with a high-performance track record in the rain was Johann Zarco. While he had his initial top time scrubbed due to Miller’s crash, he came back up to the first spot with a lap of 1:48.267. A bad day for Honda got worse as Diogo Moreira and Luca Marini lost time in the gravel.
Miller came back out on his number two bike, but was clearly unhappy with it and still had no time on the board. He was saved from qualifying dead last, with Moreira unable to return to the session. Zarco held onto his top time on his LCR Honda machine, joining Acosta through to Q2.
Short Delay Begins Q2 Drama
After the incident in Friday’s Practice session, Jorge Martín’s hopes of qualifying on the front row for Sunday were already dashed before Q2 began. However, he had to wait to get onto the track, with the session delayed as marshals cleared up possible fluid at Turns 9 and 10 on the Circuito de Jerez—Ángel Nieto. The suspected culprit was from Morbidelli’s Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team machine, a plume of smoke billowing from it at the end of Q1.
With the track still damp but clear of coolant or other slick fluids, the riders streamed out as the session finally got underway. All were on the wet medium front and rear tyres as they set their first flying laps. Acosta had the advantage, coming to the top of the board with M.Márquez and Martin just behind him. Fermín Aldeguer took his second crash of the day, possibly distracted by Acosta as he pulled out of his time attack.
The second BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP rider also came down. Álex Márquez was trailbraking into Turn 9, coming off fast into the gravel trap. Meanwhile, the older Márquez brother had the fastest lap, but not for long. Zarco put in the fastest time attack, just as Martín came off at the end of the straight into Turn 1. The #89 rider was left to the sidelines for the rest of the session, unable to defend his P4 qualifying position.
The Final Time Attacks
M.Márquez put in his last flying lap, setting a 1:48.087 and placing himself in provisional pole to the cheers of the Spanish crowd. With no time to come back around for another time, the reigning champion was left to watch and wait to see if he would keep it. Zarco pushed it to the limit, making a final mistake that cost him time and left him in P2. Marco Bezzecchi nabbed the third spot very briefly before Fabio Di Giannantonio took it for himself a moment later.
There was one more crash to add to the long list of riders who fell during the MotoGP qualifying of the Spanish GP. Enea Bastianini had a massive tumble into the gravel, the Red Bull KTM Tech3 bike somersaulting out from underneath him.
Sprint and Sunday Feature to Come
Saturday Sprint is still to come, with a lot of excitement predicted given the front row and more impacts from the wet weather. The Ducati Lenovo Team have a real chance here at making up for their losses in the first three rounds. On the other hand, Sunday will look a lot different. There’s a host of penalties being handed out, and conditions forecasted to be much sunnier and warmer. Martín will drop three places on the grid, while Joan Mir will certainly face some reprimand from the FIM stewards after failing to follow black-and-orange flag instructions in FP2. All this means we’ve got an exciting Tissot Sprint later in the afternoon and an equally action-packed feature race on Sunday to look forward to.