Frenchman Fabio Quartararo powered to pole position for the season-opening Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday, setting a Jerez lap record time to edge out Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales.
The 21-year-old
Quartararo, who rides for the Yamaha satellite outfit, posted a time of one
minute and 36.705 seconds to claim his seventh MotoGP pole in only his second
top-class campaign.
He will be bidding
for his maiden victory on Sunday, having ended his rookie season in 2019 with
four runner-up finishes in the last seven races.
Vinales settled for
second place on the grid, 0.139sec slower than Quartararo, who will replace
Italian veteran Valentino Rossi at the Yamaha factory team next year.
The 41-year-old
Rossi struggled and could only qualify in 11th place, 1.036sec
slower than Quartararo.
Reigning world
champion Marc Marquez will complete the front row for Honda as he starts his
tilt at a seventh MotoGP title.
Marquez’s younger
brother Alex, making his MotoGP debut as his sibling’s Honda teammate, failed
to even make it into the second qualifying session.
The 2019 Moto2
champion will start from 21st on the grid.
This year’s MotoGP
world championship finally gets underway on Sunday, behind closed doors and
more than four months late due to the coronavirus pandemic.
