Quartararo claims fifth consecutive MotoGP pole position at Catalunya

Fabio Quartararo has made it five pole positions in a row during qualifying for the Catalan MotoGP. 

The championship leader built on an impressive FP4 session where he dominated the race run performance.

The pole lap was also the fastest lap of the weekend, while Jack Miller came through Q1 to take second place. 

Miller scraped through Q1 after being closely followed by both Repsol Honda riders. It was Pol Espargaro who joined the Australian into Q2, while Marc Marquez missed out by just +0.011s and will start tomorrow’s race 13th. 

Yamaha were in a strong position following the first time attacks as Quartararo led from Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales. 

But as the final runs began, Joan Mir was the first rider to provisionally move onto the front row as he replaced Vinales in third.

Then it was the turn of Miller who had three red sectors and looked to be on course for top spot, before narrowly missing out in final sector. 

Miller was up again on Quartararo's time during his next lap which would have been his last, but the two-time winner so far in 2021 crashed at turn 3.

Johann Zarco made it two Ducati’s on the front row as he claimed third, while Miguel Oliveira will start in fourth position for KTM. 

Morbidelli will line-up from the middle of the second row ahead of the second factory Yamaha of Maverick Vinales, as the Spaniard had to recover from a deleted lap time earlier on due to exceeding track limits. 

Aleix Espargaro managed to claim seventh spot after following Vinales on his final few laps, but his brother Pol Espargaro crashed when trying to do the same. 

Rounding out the top ten is Brad Binder in eighth, Francesco Bagnaia ninth, and Mir tenth. 

Valentino Rossi suffered an early crash at turn 4, and while the nine-time world champion was able to complete qualifying, the Italian could only manage 11th.