MORBIDELLI MAIDEN MOTOGP POLE

Franco Morbidelli takes maiden MotoGP pole – Photo: LAT

Italian Franco Morbidelli took his first MotoGP pole position in a thrilling qualifying session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

By DAN McCARTHY

Morbidelli continued Yamahas strong showing on a Saturday by taking the Japanese brands third successive pole position and sixth in eight races this season to date.

Once again It was a four-way fight for pole position between the quartet of Yamahas and for the first time it was Italian Morbidelli that came out on top.

Morbidelli took pole by a surprisingly comfortable 0.21s from his Petronas Yamaha teammate Fabio Quartararo, pulling the 1m 38.798s time out of the bag in the dying seconds.

Just hours after officially announcing that he would be joining the Petronas Yamaha team in 2021, to replace factory bound Quartararo (effectively in a swap), Valentino Rossi qualified in third, his first front-row start of the season.

Australian Jack Miller was the best of the non-Yamaha bikes, despite coming through Q1 and having only one set of soft tyres for the crucial Q2 session the Pramac Ducati rider set a blistering time only 0.427s shy of Morbidelli.

Last weekend’s race winner and three-time pole sitter this season Maverick Vinales could qualify no higher than fifth.

Avintia Ducati rider Johann Zarco again impressed in qualifying and will start from the final spot on the second row.

On row 3 will be factory KTM rider Pol Espargaro, factory Suzuki rider Joan Mir and factory Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci.

Petrucci’s championship-leading teammate Andrea Dovizioso again showed one lap pace weakness, qualifying in 17th position.

Behind Petrucci on the grid was Czech Republic Grand Prix winner Brad Binder, the fastest Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami who scraped through Q1 and Miguel Oliveira who rounded out the top 12 after an early Q2 crash.

Alex Rins Q2 spot was pinched by Nakagami and as a result the Spaniard lines up 13th ahead of the man who led most of the last weekend’s grand prix ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia.

The eighth round of the MotoGP season takes place an hour later than usual, commencing at 11.00pm AEST and can be viewed live on Network 10 and Fox Sports.

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