Maverick Vinales secured a first MotoGP pole in over two years at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, while Francesco Bagnaia out-qualified title rival Jorge Martin despite contesting Q1.
Vinales, who led the way at the end of Friday practice, took a calm approach to the start of the session, the Aprilia man posting a time good enough for sixth as KTM’s Brad Binder stole the spotlight by firing in a time just fractions of the fastest of the weekend.
Bagnaia had set that time in Q1, though due to having only one fresh soft tyre available had to make do with 11th in the opening runs as he used up his worn tyre.
Martin meanwhile looked strong, the Pramac Ducati rider lapping just 0.011s away from Binder despite being held up by Honda’s Marc Marquez for most of the lap.
The pressure was on for the Spaniard though as Bagnaia continued to build on his impressive Q1 showing, the Italian posting the fastest lap of the weekend on a 1:29.023s on his final flying effort, leaving him in provisional pole.
Martin struggled to match his rival though after choosing the hard-compound front tyre, which in theory wasn’t the best choice due to the cold track conditions seen during qualifying. As a result, he visibly lacked front grip in several places, and despite attempting three push laps was unable to improve upon his earlier effort, thus leaving him at the mercy of the riders behind.
It would be Vinales who claimed the spoils though as he banged in a 1:28.931s to lower the two-wheeled lap record once again, his blistering attempt ultimately enough to secure a first pole since doing so for the 2021 Dutch TT at Assen.
Bagnaia’s effort was enough to keep him a strong second for both races, while Johann Zarco got the better of Jack Miller to round off the front row.
Martin’s opening run was enough to keep him sixth behind the Aussie and his KTM team-mate Binder, leaving him with work to do in both the sprint and grand prix encounters to catch Bagnaia.
Marco Bezzecchi was seventh for VR46 Ducati ahead of Alex Marquez, the Gresini man joining Bagnaia in progressing from the opening qualifying test.
Marc Marquez will start ninth in his final two races with Honda, while RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez completed the top ten. Fabio Di Gianantonio failed to capitalise on his strong Friday form en route to 11th, while Aleix Espargaro was 12th on the other factory Aprilia.
Augusto Fernandez meanwhile performed admirably in the opening qualifying segment to narrowly miss out on a Q2 spot to Marquez, the GasGas pilot slotting in ahead of the second factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini.
Fabio Quartararo put Yamaha’s lack of qualifying speed on show again as he managed only 15th, with team-mate Franco Morbidelli a lowly 19th on the sister M1.
Alex Rins will start 20th in his final race for Honda before moving to Yamaha next year, while future Honda racer Luca Marini struggled to 17th on his VR46-prepared Ducati.
Joan Mir pulled out from the remainder of the event before qualifying following his fast Turn 4 crash during Friday practice. The 2020 MotoGP world champion has elected to rest up for the next few days to ensure he is in top form for Tuesday’s test.
