- 2022-06-05
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ MotoGP Catalan: Aleix Espargaro Takes Pole Position with New Lap Record at Catalunya
The Round 9 of MotoGP 2022, Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya took place at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit in Montmeló on June 4, 2022.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) missed this event due to a fourth surgery on his right humerus, and Honda test rider Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda Team) replaced him to participate the event.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) claimed pole position with a new lap record of Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona. This marks Espargaro's second pole of the season.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) took 2nd position behind Aleix Espargaro by 0.031s and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) was 3rd.
Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) and his team-mate Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) were 4th and 6th, each. Mugello polesitter Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati) was 5th. Three riders will start on the second row.
Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) was 7th, Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) advanced to Q2 from Q1 and took 8th. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati) was 9th in front of Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda).
Alex Marquez(LCR Honda) missed qualifying after suffering a heavy fall at the final corner in the closing minutes of final practice.
Aleix Espargaro said, “It has been the most difficult lap of all season so far, the conditions were super, super tricky. I was talking with the team and I was not sure whether to go under the 1m39s, so then with the first time attack I saw many riders into the 1m39.0s, so I had to go 1m38s if I wanted the pole position so it was all or nothing. I did an absolutely crazy lap, sliding everywhere and actually, I didn't enjoy the lap, I was on the limit at every single corner and when I activated the rear rideheight device on the last straight I said, 'You closed the lap, you are a lucky man'. So when I saw P1 I was even more happy. Let's see if this can give me an advantage for tomorrow's race. I lost the front a couple of times and almost had a couple of highsides but I was riding on the limit of the bike. But the last two corners I did very, very fast, so I was very happy to close the lap and not crash. That was already a victory, so when I saw P1 I was very happy. Normally, 90% of the races are won by the fastest rider but here in Barcelona it is not that easy, it is not about going fast, I can go very, very fast but you also have to manage the rear tyre. It is a bit frustrating because there is a certain moment when you cannot do anything, there is nothing you can do, just accelerate and wait for the bike to go, because the bike and the traction control is stopping you a lot. In FP4 I tried different electronic settings to see if I lost a lot of time or not by saving tyre and we are quite happy with the results. The pace I did is quite strong so tomorrow is going to be a balance to find this thin line between the speed and the consumption of the rear tyre.”
Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya Qualifying Results- Aleix Espargaro / Aprilia Racing / 1'38.742s
- Francesco Bagnaia / Ducati Lenovo / +0.031s
- Fabio Quartararo / Monster Yamaha / +0.217s
- Johann Zarco / Pramac Ducati / +0.285s
- Fabio Di Giannantonio / Gresini Ducati / +0.357s
- Jorge Martin / Pramac Ducati / +0.400s
- Alex Rins / Suzuki Ecstar / +0.403s
- Maverick Viñales / Aprilia Racing / +0.655s
- Luca Marini / Mooney VR46 Ducati / +0.709s
- Pol Espargaro / Repsol Honda / +0.735s
- Jack Miller / Ducati Lenovo / +0.781s
- Takaaki Nakagami / LCR Honda / +0.869s
- Marco Bezzecchi / Mooney VR46 Ducati / 1'39.24s
- Enea Bastianini / Gresini Ducati / 1'39.246s
- Brad Binder / Red Bull KTM / 1'39.249s
- Miguel Oliveira / Red Bull KTM / 1'39.42s
- Joan Mir / Suzuki Ecstar / 1'39.664s
- Franco Morbidelli / Monster Yamaha / 1'39.884s
- Andrea Dovizioso / WithU Yamaha RNF / 1'40.071s
- Remy Gardner / KTM Tech3 / 1'40.113s
- Stefan Bradl / Repsol Honda / 1'40.298s
- Michele Pirro / Aruba.it Racing / 1'40.351s
- Darryn Binder / WithU Yamaha RNF / 1'40.373s
- Raul Fernandez / KTM Tech3 / 1'40.587s
Photo by MotoGP- source : MotoGP
