Dani Pedrosa will start his home race from pole position, his second of the year, after setting the fastest time during qualifying for the Catalan Grand Prix.
Pedrosa moved to the front with a time of 1:43.870 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The Repsol Honda driver was 0.331s faster than compatriot Jorge Lorenzo. He secured his best result since switching to Ducati.
Lorenzo held provisional pole after the first runs but was demoted to second in the wake of Pedrosa’s effort. And was subsequently unable to improve on his initial benchmark.
Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci followed up his podium at last weekend’s Mugello round by taking third position, just 0.019s down on Lorenzo.
Marc Márquez finished fourth but endured a scrappy session, falling through Turn 3. He recovered his RC213V to the pit lane, due to his spare bike being out of action following a practice crash.
Márquez then fell again, suffering a low-side through the left-hander at Turn 5, bringing his session to an early end. The reigning World Champion throwing his hands in the air in the gravel trap.
Aleix Espargaró was fifth for Aprilia, ahead of Avintia’s Héctor Barberá, Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and Tech 3’s Jonas Folger, who led the way in Q1.
Championship leader Maverick Viñales took only ninth, having negotiated his way through Q1, on a tricky weekend for Yamaha. The Spaniard having been at odds to explain his sub-par pace.
Álvaro Bautista, Scott Redding and Andrea Iannone will form the fourth row of the grid.
Valentino Rossi tardy practice pace meant he had to partake in Q1. But he was unable to secure progression through to Q2. Falling just 0.040s shy of Viñales’ time in the session. Both riders were slower than Folger.
Rossi, who ran through the gravel at Turn 1 on his out lap, will start from 13th place. He is in front of Johann Zarco, Jack Miller and Loris Baz. Cal Crutchlow fell at Turn 10 and will line-up from 17th place. He is ahead of Karel Abraham, Tito Rabat and Pol Espargaró.
Sam Lowes finished off the pace after missing the first part of Q1 due to a mechanical problem with his Aprilia. That left him in 21st spot.
Sylvain Guintoli did not participate in the session, with Suzuki confirming that he was enduring “physical problems”, though added that “it doesn’t look [like] anything serious”.
