Quartararo sets Spanish MotoGP record to claim pole

Jerez de la Frontera, Spain: France’s 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo set a new all-time lap record at the Spanish Grand Prix in qualifying on Saturday to claim pole position for the sprint and MotoGP races in Jerez. 

It was Quartararo’s 17th pole but his first since Indonesia in 2022.

The French Yamaha rider’s time of 1min 35.610sec edged Marc Marquez’s Q2 time by 0.033 of a second, after the world championship leader had taken the record from his brother Alex Marquez, set on Friday, by three-tenths of a second.

Completing the front row is Francesco Bagnaia, who only had one bike available after his crash in practice earlier, but the two-time world champion put in a strong showing after the Ducati Lenovo rider’s recent struggles.

For the first time this season Alex Marquez was off the front row, coming in fourth, lining up with Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales on the grid.

“(I’m) very, very happy, especially for the work done, little by little we are catching up,” said Quartararo.

Despite being pipped by the Frenchman, Marc Marquez was content with the qualifying session ahead of Sunday’s main event.

“Fabio had an incredible lap, a circuit record,” said Marc Marquez, who leads the standings from his brother Alex, and then Bagnaia.