Submitted by Zara Daniela on
The weather rollercoaster continued in Valencia, with a hint at a dry line appearing as riders got ready for Q2 but slicks didn’t get a chance to come out of their blankets and enjoy the sun. Who did come out to play was pretty much every manufacturer on the grid throwing a rider into the mix for pole. Jack Miller headed into qualifying as the main favourite in the tricky conditions but the Australian bided his time before joining the action and that allowed Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Rins to steal the spotlight in the early stages of Q2. Once Miller hit the track, he quickly reduced the Honda man’s gap from seven to three tenths of a second and while all eyes were on the trio, Pol Espargaro popped out of nowhere and claimed pole position for KTM.
Alex Rins came within four hundredths of a second of a first pole in the premier class but was happy enough with second, ahead of Nakagami, who missed out on a final opportunity to respond to Espargaro by crashing out in the final two minutes of qualifying. Q1 escapee Johann Zarco also looked fast on his way to placing a Ducati on second row of the grid, ahead of a solid fifth for Joan Mir and a perhaps disappointing sixth position for Miller.
Aleix Espargaro will start on the third row, only half a second off pole and ahead of Q1 leader Miguel Oliveira. The one factory who did not seem to stand a chance at pole was Yamaha, Franco Morbidelli their lead man in 9th spot, with teammate Fabio Quartararo in 11th and the factory boys stuck in Q1, although Maverick Vinales is scheduled to start from pitlane instead of 15th. Brad Binder leads despondent championship hopefuls Quartararo and Andrea Dovizioso on the fourth row, although the South African will have a long lap penalty to serve in the race.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
1 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 1'40.434 | ||
2 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'40.475 | 0.041 | 0.041 |
3 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1'40.530 | 0.096 | 0.055 |
4 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Ducati | 1'40.577 | 0.143 | 0.047 |
5 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1'40.704 | 0.270 | 0.127 |
6 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'40.893 | 0.459 | 0.189 |
7 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'40.997 | 0.563 | 0.104 |
8 | 88 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM | 1'41.328 | 0.894 | 0.331 |
9 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 1'41.557 | 1.123 | 0.229 |
10 | 33 | Brad Binder | KTM | 1'41.781 | 1.347 | 0.224 |
11 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 1'41.943 | 1.509 | 0.162 |
12 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'42.249 | 1.815 | 0.306 |
Q1 Results: | ||||||
Q2 | 88 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM | 1'40.771 | ||
Q2 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Ducati | 1'40.821 | 0.050 | 0.050 |
13 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Honda | 1'41.010 | 0.239 | 0.189 |
14 | 73 | Alex Marquez | Honda | 1'41.276 | 0.505 | 0.266 |
15 | 12 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha | 1'41.310 | 0.539 | 0.034 |
16 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'41.311 | 0.540 | 0.001 |
17 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1'41.395 | 0.624 | 0.084 |
18 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'42.039 | 1.268 | 0.644 |
19 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'42.244 | 1.473 | 0.205 |
20 | 32 | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia | 1'42.532 | 1.761 | 0.288 |
21 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Ducati | 1'43.030 | 2.259 | 0.498 |
Comments
Conditions stir the pot. Not
Conditions stir the pot. Not looking good for Quartararo. Nice work Pol!
What is tomorrow's race time weather forecast? I heard dry.
Hoping Ducati have been noticing their 2019 chassis can be turned a bit more conventionally with these tires. Their 2021 bike could benefit. Next season we get a new front tire to match this rear. Expecting more confidence available from it on the shoulder (before max lean) and more bikes profiting that carve corners rather than break loose at corner entry. More like Zarco. The Italian kids coming in at Avintia will have 2020 bikes, betting they end up wishing they could run this 2019 instead. Zarco gets to hop over the 2020 altogether, it will be very interesting to see what his experience of the 2021 is. I hope great - don't we want to have several strong bikes? An Orange one too please and thank you.
Go Suzuki!!! Keep it together Mir!