Quartararo Makes It Five Poles In A Row In Catalunya

Calum Gill 14:58 05/06/2021

Fabio Quartararo has taken his fifth consecutive MotoGP pole, by taking top spot on the grid in qualifying for the Catalan Grand Prix.

The Frenchman's best time of a 01:38:853 was enough to edge out Jack Miller on the Ducati, by only 0.037 seconds. Miller, who narrowly got out of Q1, set his best lap with a few minutes to go, and went again for another flying lap. However, the Australian racer came off at turn 3, which extinguished any hopes he had of pole. Johann Zarco put his Pramac in third to complete the front row, despite at one point looking like he may be able to knock Quartararo off top spot.

Red Bull KTM's Miguel Oliveira found himself in fourth, followed by Franco Morbidelli on the Petronas Yamaha and Maverick Viñales on the Monster Energy Yamaha. Brad Binder had to settle for eighth and will start in the middle of the third row, between Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaró and Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia. Reigning champion Joan Mir, competing this weekend as the sole Suzuki, looked to have salvaged a good result by elevating himself to third late on, only to get shuffled down to an eventual 10th. He was ahead only of the two Q2 crashers - Valentino Rossi, who fell while running behind Franco Morbidelli early on, and Pol Espargaró, who hit the deck on his second run.

With Quartararo having a healthy lead in the championship of 24 points, you would imagine that Zarco and Miller, who sit 2nd and 4th in the standings respectively, will need to make the start count on their Ducati bikes in order to keep Monster Energy Yamaha's Quartararo within arms reach in the championship.