A heroic late dash to the top sees ‘El Diablo’ depose Marc Marquez to take his and Yamaha’s first pole since 2022
They say class is permanent and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) would most certainly agree with that after taking a stunning pole position in Jerez, putting in a new lap record on his final dash around the packed out venue. It’s a first pole for Yamaha and the Frenchman since 2022, and he denies Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) on the #93’s home turf as he is forced to settle for second. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), winner here for the last three years, lurks in P3 too after running the gauntlet with only one bike following an FP2 crash at the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Grand Prix of Spain.
Q1: the battle to graduate
There were big names aplenty in Q1, meaning that there were always going to be some disappointments. Following the opening roll of the dice, Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) were sitting pretty but with the second half of the session to go and riders such as Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) and Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) in contention, there were opportunities to shake things up. On the five-minute mark, Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing) was a faller at Turn 9 but OK, although the yellow flags hampered flying laps.
Improving his time on his penultimate flying lap, Viñales went quicker again to secure his place in Q2 ahead of Bezzecchi, who despite not improving, held on to move up. Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) missed most of the session due to a check-up at the medical centre following an FP2 fall and got out to set two laps at the end of the session.
Q2: a mighty scrap for pole at Jerez
A blistering opening lap saw Marc Marquez set a new lap record behind his brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), with a 1’35.643 being his first attempt. Behind the Marquez brothers, Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) was right there too, ahead of Quartararo, Bagnaia and Q1 graduate Viñales. However, the final five minutes would come alive and be the determining factor for the grid.
THE DECIDING MOMENTS: a qualifying crescendo
This time, it was Marc Marquez who led Alex Marquez around the track. The #93 was in a class of his own until he lost time in the final sector and thus was unable to better his first stint benchmark. One rider could though: Quartararo. The #20 was putting in some of his best qualifying laps for some time and on his final flying lap, set a new lap record to stun the crowd, everyone watching around the world, and the #93 who loses his 100% pole record in 2025. For the first time since Mandalika 2022, Yamaha and Quartararo are on pole, and it’s his fifth at Jerez – the scene of his first pole in 2019 and first MotoGP™ win in 2020. Bagnaia challenged too, but couldn’t quite pip his teammate.
Alex Marquez heads up the second row of the grid ahead of Morbidelli and Viñales, once again inside the top six for the second round in succession and eyeing up a strong Spanish GP. The third row is a power packed one with Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) taking best rookie honours, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) in eighth and Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) making it a third top ten on the grid in four Grands Prix. Fellow Honda rider Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) rounds out the top ten on the head of row four with Bezzecchi and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) for company.
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