Blaž Štremfelj
Fabio Quartararo will plan the continuation of the winning streak at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez from the best starting position. Factory racer Yamaha, who won the fourth consecutive best starting position in Jerez, and the second consecutive this season, will have Franco Morbidelli and Jack Miller working in the first starting row.
The best three racers were separated by 0.105 seconds, and very small differences continued after the rest of the starting line. Marc Marquez will start the race in 14th place after falling badly in the third free practice and then being knocked out in the first part of qualifying. Valentino Rossi starts the race in 17th place.
Franco Morbidelli advanced in Q2 from the first part of the qualifiers, where he fell after having his fastest time cleared after the third free practice. He finished the qualifications in a very good second place, and he also masterfully saved himself from falling.
Quartararo, the winner of the consecutive races in Qatar and Portimao, will be chasing his third consecutive victory in Jerez, and the racetrack is clearly in his favor, as he celebrated his victory in both races here last year.
"El Diablo" had a bit more work to do in the qualifications, as the differences between the racers are very small. The Spaniard won his 12th overall pole position with an advantage of 57 thousandths of a second over Morbidelli, who will certainly be a dangerous competitor in the race.
Yamaha continues the duel with Ducati, which has three racers in the top ten. In addition to Miller in third place, Francesco Bagnaia won fourth, and Honda’s highest-ranked racer was Takaaki Nakagami with fifth place.
Johann Zarco was sixth, ahead of Quartararo’s teammate Maverick Vinales, and Aprilia racer Aleix Espargaro. They disappointed the Suzuki racer a bit. Alex Rins was ninth and current world champion Joan Mir was tenth.
An encouraging 11th place was won by Brad Binder, who overtook test Honda racer Stefan Bradl, who competes in Jerez as a wildcard racer. The German managed to beat both racers of the factory team Repsol Honda, Paul Espargaro and Marco Marquez, who will start the race from thirteenth and fourteenth place.
