Quartararo shoots to fifth straight MotoGP pole in Barcelona

Fabio Quartararo swept to a fifth successive MotoGP pole as he headed Jack Miller to the top spot in qualifying for the Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The Frenchman continued to ride the crest of the wave he has held across the 2021 MotoGP campaign so far, firing in the fastest lap of the weekend on his opening gambit in Q2, a 1:38.853s lap, as he led fellow M1 riders Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales.

He decided to wait until the very end of the session to head back out in an attempt to safeguard his fifth pole of the year with the leading contenders falling by the wayside one by one as they failed to match Quartararo’s benchmark.

A late crash from Miller scuppered any chance of an improvement for Quartararo as he had to ride through the yellow flags being waved at Turn 3 but it mattered little for the Yamaha rider.

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Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco looked to threaten his countryman’s pole streak on his final attack as he broke the third sector beam just under a tenth clear, though he would lose team in the final few corners on his way to third just behind the fallen Miller.

Miller’s effort was all the more impressive considering the Australian had to progress through the preceding Q1 session in order to take part in the pole shootout.

He didn’t have it easy either as he had to battle Honda trio Pol Espargaro, Marc Marquez and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami for the final two places in Q2.

The Repsol Honda riders managed to manoeuvre themselves right in behind Miller for the final runs, allowing the powerful Desmosedici ahead to punch a hole in the Spanish air in an attempt to escape the clutches of an early qualifying exit.

Miller fired in a rapid 1:39.153s effort to remain at the head of the timesheets and gab the first Q2 spot, while Pol just got the better of team-mate Marc to secure the final passage to the tune of 0.011s, the six-time premier class champion destined to start 13^th for the Catalan contest.

Miguel Oliveira meanwhile continued to put on display the strong form that took him to the runners-up result just a week ago at Mugello to take fourth on the grid for KTM ahead of Morbidelli, while Vinales ended up sixth as he tried to fend off the chasing Espargaro brothers as they looked for a tow.

Aleix ended up quickest of the pair in seventh on his Aprilia as Pol ended up crashing on his only attempt, leaving him 12^th.

Brad Binder was eighth on the second factory KTM ahead of Francesco Bagnaia’s Ducati, while Joan Mir completed the top ten on the sole Suzuki entered this weekend following team-mate Alex Rins’ early weekend exit after he sustained a broken wrist in a cycling accident on Thursday.

Valentino Rossi was 11^th despite an early crash in Q2, the Petronas SRT rider losing the front of his M1 at Turn 4 early on before quickly rejoining the action on his second machine.

Further back Nakagami will start 14^th just behind Marc, with Martin an impressive 15^th despite not having competed for almost two months following his Portimao accident.

Lecuona was 16^th as the lead Tech 3 challenger after crashing out at Turn 9 on his final attempt, team-mate Danilo Petrucci only 18^th.