MotoGP: Quartararo Beats Vinales, Marquez to Spanish GP Pole

The first qualifying session of the 2020 MotoGP season has been completed, with the intense Spanish heat characterising Saturday afternoon as it has the entire weekend so far. 

In Q1, it was Alex Rins who topped the session from Pol Espargaro, who both moved through. Perhaps the biggest impression in the first session, however, was made by Brad Binder, who was pushed out of the all-important top two only by Rins’ final lap. It has been an impressive weekend on the whole for Binder, his first in the premier class, finishing third in FP2 as a highlight before this Q1 performance. Probably, it was not in the expectations for Binder to be pushing for Q2 in his first race, but the fact he can be disappointed that he missed out should be encouraging for both him and the factory KTM team.

By the time Q2 rolled around, it was time for another of the Marquez-Quartararo duels for pole position, and on this occasion it was Fabio Quartararo who came out on top. The Frenchman’s lap of a 1’36.705 was enough to break the lap record he set earlier in the day in FP3, as well. But the pole position is important for Quartararo if he is to beat Marc Marquez tomorrow.

Maverick Vinales was able to interrupt the Marquez-Quartararo fight with his own provisional pole lap at the very end of Q2. Marquez was unable to beat Vinales’ best in Q2, but Quartararo’s final attempt was enough to deprive Vinales of pole position. Second place, though, is not a disaster for the #12, whose pace should be enough to take him to the podium, if not to fight for the first victory of the season.

Marquez was only third in qualifying but from Friday to Saturday he was able to make a step. Yesterday Quartararo was the rider with the strongest pace, but in FP4 today it was clearly Marquez with the advantage. Whilst Quartararo can run happily in mid-to-low-1’38s, Marquez is now able to run consistently in the low-1’38s and even dip into the 1’37s when necessary. The Spaniard’s pace is relatively unrivalled, and his competitors will have work to do overnight to close the gap of one or two tenths per lap that he has over the likes of Quartararo and Maverick Vinales. 

Francesco Bagnaia was perhaps the surprise of qualifying, as he was on for provisional pole position with his final lap of Q2. It was in the end not enough or provisional pole, but Bagnaia was briefly on the front row of the grid until Quartararo’s late pole position lap. Although he will be disappointed to miss out on the top three, Bagnaia can take heart from his performance which in the end was enough for fourth place, his best qualifying performance in MotoGP, and a similar performance in tomorrow’s race would be a strong way to start the 2020 season in which he needs to convince Ducati to keep him in the Pramac team.

Joining Bagnaia on row two will be his Pramac Racing teammate, Jack Miller, who had a huge crash at turn 11 on his final lap, and Cal Crutchlow who was relatively quiet in Q2 but fast nonetheless and will start sixth tomorrow. 

Pol Espargaro was the top KTM in qualifying, taking seventh place, and the only appearance of the Austrian manufacturer in Q2. The Spaniard will begin the first race of his final season with KTM alongside a disappointing Andrea Dovizioso in eighth and Alex Rins in ninth. Rins suffered a crash in turn 11 moments after Miller’s in the same corner. Worryingly, Rins was taken away in an ambulance, although it is not clear at the time of writing the condition of the Spaniard.

It is an all-inline-four fourth row of the grid for tomorrow’s race, with Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi’s Yamahas joined by Joan Mir’s Suzuki. 

As aforementioned, Brad Binder was the fastest rider to miss out on Q2, and will start 13th on his MotoGP debut. The South African will be accompanied by Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci, who is still suffering the consequences of his crash in testing on Wednesday, and Takaaki Nakagami who is doing a decent job so far on the 2019 RC213V.

Aleix Espargaro will be disappointed with how the first weekend of the season has gone so far for him and Aprilia, as neither have shown the pace they had in preseason. It will be 16th on the grid for Espargaro tomorrow, with Miguel Oliveira and fellow Aprilia rider, Bradley Smith, starting alongside the #41 on row six.

Tito Rabat heads up row seven in 19th, with the Spaniard’s teammate, Johann Zarco, a disappointing 20th after a crash at the end of Q1 for the Frenchman. Alex Marquez will join the Hublot Reale Avintia Racing pair on the seventh row after qualifying 21st on his Repsol Honda debut. 

Starting alone on the last row of the grid will be Iker Lecuona, who was unable to repeat his impressive form from Friday on qualifying day, over a quarter of a second behind 21st-placed Marquez.