It’s pole position number 11 in MotoGP for Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) after the Frenchman benefits from Francesco Bagnaia’s (Ducati Lenovo Team) unreal lap being cancelled, and is aiming to make it back-to-back victories in 2021. Quartararo’s pace has looked superior, but today is surely going to serve up some more surprises.

Quartararo has qualified on pole position for the first time since the Aragon GP last year and the 11th time overall in the premier class, one less than his teammate Maverick Vinales and Johnny Cecotto. On his 10 previous poles, Quartararo went on to finish on the podium six times, including two wins, both of which were at Jerez last year (Spain and Andalucia).

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) has qualified second as the highest-placed Suzuki rider, equalling his best qualifying result in MotoGP from Valencia 2018 and Europe 2020 when he finished both races in second.

Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) has qualified third as the highest-placed Ducati rider for his first back-to-back front-row starts since 2018 (Japan/Australia/Malaysia). He will be aiming to stand on the podium for the first time in three successive races in MotoGP.

After suffering a Turn 7 horror crash in FP3, Pramac Racing has confirmed Jorge Martin will undergo surgery in Barcelona “in the coming days.” The Spanish rookie, who performed wonders to claim a maiden premier class pole and podium at the Doha GP, will have two operations: one on the metacarpus in his right hand, and one on his medial malleolus in his right foot. He has been declared unfit for the remainder of the Portuguese GP.

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) has qualified fifth, which is his best qualifying result since he was second last year in Portugal on his way to finishing the race in third (his most recent podium).

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), who comes back from injury this weekend, qualified in sixth place which is the first time he has failed to qualify on the front row since he was 11th in Malaysia 2019 (although he finished second).

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) has qualified seventh for the second successive race. He will be aiming to give Aprilia their first top-five finish since the introduction of MotoGP in 2002.

Luca Marini (SKY VR46 Avintia), who finished second in the Moto2 race last year in Portimao, has qualified eighth as the top rookie for his best qualifying result in MotoGP so far. He will be aiming to score his first points in the class.

2020 MotoGP World Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) passed through Q1 for the 14th time in MotoGP and managed to join Q2 for the fifth time along with Catalunya and San Marino in 2019, and Qatar and Doha this year. Of his seven MotoGP podiums so far, four of them came after he failed to start from the front two rows of the grid.

MotoGP