Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo secured his fifth consecutive pole position of the season in a nail-biting qualifying session for the Catalan Grand Prix. The rider will be joined by Ducati's Jack Miller on the front row, who crashed in the latter stages of qualifying along with Pramac Ducati's Johann Zarco. Quartararo becomes the second rider to secure five poles in a row since Marc Marquez did the same in a dominant 2014 season. Meanwhile, Jorge Lorenzo last achieved the feat for Yamaha in 2010.
Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro set the initial time at 1m39.834s, which was immediately better by Quartararo at 1m39.351s. The rider improved further on the second lap with a time of 1m38.853s at the end of the first run. Fabio seemed unbeatable until Miller came extremely close setting a time of 1m38.890s. He could've just bettered the time on his following lap but crashed heavily at Turn 3.
Jack Miller starts in the front row alongside Quartararo and Pramac Ducati's Johann Zarco
Photo Credit: Eurosport
Quartararo was on course for his final lap but had to cut it short in the third sector. Nevertheless, the rider held on to the pole position, followed by Miller confirmed to start second while Zarco made a late charge to take third ahead of KTM's Miguel Oliveira and SRT's Franco Morbidelli.
Maverick Vinales starts at P6 after he seemed to secure a place on the front row in the early stages of the qualifying session. Starting behind him will be Aleix Espargaro and KTM's Brad Binder. Francesco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati starts at P9 followed by Suzuki's Joan Mir in 10th place after his best lap was cancelled for exceeding track limits.
undefinedMixed fortunes for @sepangracing! @FrankyMorbido12 is up in P2 but @ValeYellow46 has tumbled at Turn 4! #CatalanGP pic.twitter.com/VKRnySZU22
— MotoGP (@MotoGP) June 5, 2021
After an early crash in the session, SRT's Valentino Rossi managed to claim 11th, while Pol Espargaro of Honda claimed 12th after a late crash. Following him was Marc Marquez who missed out on the pole position shootout by 0.011s over Espargaro. Starting 14th is another Honda, that of LCR's Takaaki Nakagami while Pramac Ducati's Jorge Martin takes a solid 15th in his first qualifying session since Doha in April this year.
Tech 3 KTM's Iker Lecuona starts at 16th after a late crash, followed by Avintia rookie Enea Bastianini and Tech 3's Danilo Petrucci. Avintia's Luca Marini, LCR's Alex Marquez and Aprilia rider Lorenzo Savadori round up the grid for the 2021 Catalan GP.
