MotoGP: Nakagami takes first MotoGP pole position in Teruel, Dovizioso 17th

Qualifying for the 11th round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship took place at MotorLand Aragon for the Grand Prix of Teruel, the second race in MotorLand in one week. Franco Morbidelli was the fastest rider in free practice, while Andrea Dovizioso was forced to go through Q1 once more.

The first session was intense, with Dovizioso struggling for speed and using Jack Miller’s tow in the second run to try to make it through to Q2. The tactics didn’t work for Ducati, with both Dovizioso and Miller missing out on a top-two spot, those instead going to Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco, who would be the only Ducati in Q2. 

Q2 belonged to Takaaki Nakagami, who took his first pole position in MotoGP and the first for a Japanese rider in 16 years. The #30 has been on fire all weekend- indeed, he was fast last weekend as well, but in Teruel the pace has jumped from the LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider who will go into tomorrow’s race as one of the favourites for the victory.

Two of Nakagami’s strongest challengers, though, start alongside him on the front row with Franco Morbidelli in second and Alex Rins in third. Morbidelli was the only non-Honda to top a session in the first three practice sessions by topping FP3 on Saturday morning. The Italian’s pace on medium tyres also looks very strong, as he is able to run in the mid-1’48s quite consistently.

Alex Rins’ [ace was not electric in FP4, but it wasn’t screaming ‘I’m going to win tomorrow’ last week, either. The #42 took only his third front row in MotoGP, to put some perspective on how good last weekend’s winner is feeling in this second Aragon round of 2020, and surely he will be in the fight for the win tomorrow. 

It would be wrong to rule out Maverick Vinales from the podium fight ahead of tomorrow, as he qualified fourth. With Yamaha’s strengths and weaknesses being how they are, it is difficult to see them winning from the second row, especially when there is already a Yamaha on the front row in the shape of Morbidelli, but a strong race for Vinales tomorrow could be pivotal for his championship, as he starts ahead of both Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir. 

It is true, though, that Vinales starts from the same row as Quartararo. They are separated on row two by Johann Zarco who did well to qualify his 2019 Ducati in fifth place even in spite of a crash in the second run, but nonetheless Quartararo will start from sixth and will have a good chance to make his rebuttal to Mir who last weekend took the championship lead from the Frenchman. 

Cal Crutchlow will head up row three in seventh place, ahead of Miguel Oliveira and Pol Espargaro who was quite outstanding to qualify ninth on a medium rear tyre. 

Alex Marquez starts from the same row as last week, row four, although this time from the front rather than the middle. The #73 mounted a fantastic podium charge from 11th last week, so despite being down in 10th should not be discounted from tomorrow’s fight. Row four is completed by Iker Lecuona and Joan Mir who make it an all-Spanish affair, although Mir’s chances to extend his championship lead tomorrow are severely dented by another poor qualifying performance. 

Aleix Espargaro was unfortunate to miss out on Q2, beaten only at the very end by Johann Zarco’s lap. The #41 will start from 13th, alongside Jack Miller and Brad Binder on row five – Binder the only KTM to miss out on the front four rows. 

On row six, Stefan Bradl will start alongside Andrea Dovizioso and Francesco Bagnaia, 17th and 18th for the two GP20-mounted Italians highlighting Ducati’s difficulties in Aragon. It is hard to see where Dovizioso’s championship challenge goes from here; unless he pulls off a remarkable recovery ride tomorrow he is likely to be over a race win behind the championship leader with just three rounds to go. 

Danilo Petrucci further confirmed Ducati’s struggles by qualifying only 19th, and the #9 – who turned 30 today – will start from the back row of the grid alongside Tito Rabat and Bradley Smith.