MotoGP: Morbidelli takes Valencian pole as championship contenders struggle

Qualifying for the penultimate round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship, the Valencian Grand Prix, took place at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. Despite some rain before Moto3 qualifying making conditions tricky for the lightweight class early on in their qualifying session, the track was dry for MotoGP FP4.

Q1 had the potential to be pivotal for the World Championship, as the two riders closest to Joan Mir in the World Championship – Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo, both 37 points down on Mir – were forced to pass through it and with rain starting to fall at the beginning of the session and threatening to get harder as the session progressed, it was far from certain that the #42 and the #20 would be advancing to Q2.

The changeable conditions made things difficult to manage in Q1, but Brad Binder found the grip and confidence he needed to top the session, as he headed through to Q2 with Fabio Quartararo who was able to keep his championship hopes somewhat alive by guaranteeing a spot on the front four rows of the grid. 

For a brief period in Q2, with three minutes to go, KTM had a 1-2-3, a front row lockout. It would have been the first for the Austrian marque in the premier class, and they would have become the second manufacturer to do it after Yamaha in San Marino. However, it was not to be. A sign of how hectic Q2 for the penultimate round of this year’s championship was is that 10 of the top 11 on the grid were at one point provisionally on the front row, and eight riders were at one point on provisional pole.

Finally, though, it was Franco Morbidelli who took pole position, proving that there is at least one Yamaha that is working well in Valencia this weekend after the Iwata marque’s struggles at the Spanish track. The Italian’s championship hopes are all but done, but his pace throughout this weekend in the dry has been enough to worry the Suzuki pairing of Rins and Mir, and if Morbidelli can get away at the front tomorrow he could be hard to catch. 

However, beating Jack Miller to the first turn will be tricky, as the Australian will start alongside Morbidelli in second place on the front row, with Takaaki Nakagami also providing a threat for the victory from third on the grid. 

Johann Zarco held a front row grid slot for a while in Q2 and at one point was on pole, but finally the Frenchman was displaced by Nakagami and will start fourth tomorrow, meaning there will be no factory bike in the top four grid positions tomorrow. 

Pol Espargaro, last week’s pole sitter, is therefore the top factory rider on the grid tomorrow in fifth, ahead of Maverick Vinales in sixth; while Aleix Espargaro was denied the second row and will start seventh ahead of Francesco Bagnaia and Brad Binder on row three. Binder was stunning in Q2, especially in the beginning, but with only one soft rear tyre remaining after his trip through Q1 the #33’s chances were limited. 

Row four sees two of the championship contenders, but both of them behind Miguel Oliveira, as Fabio Quartararo will try to keep his championship hopes alive from 11th, while Joan Mir will try to wrap up his second world title from 12th on the grid. 

Cal Crutchlow was the fastest rider to miss out on Q2, qualifying 13th ahead of Alex Rins whose task of keeping himself in the championship hunt after tomorrow has been made much more difficult as he will have to start from 14th, ahead of Danilo Petrucci who rounds out the fifth row. On the positive side for Rins, he is only one row behind championship leader Mir, and Quartararo with whom he is level on points, meaning it is still all to play for. 

Heading up row six will be Valentino Rossi, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, the two Italian veterans suffering in the cold, unpredictable conditions. Behind the #46 and #04 will be Stefan Bradl in 18th; while Tito Rabat wll head up the seventh and final row ahead of Alex Marquez and Lorenzo Savadori, Marquez having suffered a major high side in the middle of Q1 in turn 11 that fortunately he was able to walk away from. 

Iker Lecuona was hoping to be back in action this weekend having missed the European Grand Prix last weekend due to his brother contracting COVID-19, but a positive test for the #27 when he arrived in Valencia meant he was ruled out for this weekend, and possibly the final round in Portimao as well.