Morbidelli wins Barcelona MotoGP pole

The battle for pole came down to the four Yamaha riders at the end of Q2, with Morbidelli heading Fabio Quartararo and Valentino Rossi.

Rossi set the early pace on his factory Yamaha with a 1m39.881s, though this was immediately topped by Maverick Vinales with a 1m39.655s.

Morbidelli then took over top spot with a 1m39.110s to end the first runs fastest, while teammate Quartararo was only seventh after making a mistake on the way into Turn 10.

With minutes to go Quartararo went to the top with a 1m39.008s.

But Morbidelli dug deep on his final lap stunning lap of 1m38.798s to claim his first pole in the premier class and his first in grand prix racing since his final Moto2 season in 2017.

Quartararo went for one final lap just as the checkered flag came out, but was unable to improve on second, with Rossi completing the front row for the first time this season.

How it happened

Ahead of Q2, a huge 15 minutes in Q1 got underway and emerging from it was Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) with the fastest lap of the weekend. The Australian set a 1:39.399 to head Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu), but it was a disaster for Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) – the Italian finishing P7 in Q1, seeing him start 17th in Barcelona. Dovizioso has a huge Sunday afternoon ahead of him if he’s to keep the title lead heading to Le Mans.

Shortly after, it was a Yamaha stranglehold at the beginning of Q2 as Morbidelli set the first banker, with Rossi then taking over at the top before his teammate Maverick Viñales quickly found himself at the summit. Meanwhile, Quartararo ran wide as he got his YZR-M1 all sorts of crossed up at the tricky Turn 10, before his teammate Morbidelli slammed in the fastest lap of the weekend to go provisional pole again – a 1:39.110.

Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) then also got it wrong a Turn 10 but unlike Quartararo, Oliveira was down – thankfully unhurt. Getting the hammer down then was two Ducatis – Miller and Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing). Miller only had one set of fresh soft tires available after coming through Q1, but the Aussie made it count – the future factory Ducati rider was up into P2, just 0.115 off Morbidelli.

After running wide at Turn 10 in the early stages, Quartararo rumbled out of pitlane with five minutes to go having not set a lap time. The Frenchman and last year’s pole man was P12, but that was soon going to change as four Yamahas lit up the timing screens. Halfway around the lap, Quartararo was 0.132 under Morbidelli’s time – the latter going even quicker though. El Diablo crossed the line and managed to strike a 1:39.008, with Morbidelli unable to improve – nor did Viñales. Rossi did though, The Doctor launched from P7 to P3 with his time and it was a provisional Yamaha front row lockout – Miller the only rider to mix it with the Iwata factory riders for the time being.