- 2020-09-27
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SPORTS
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MotoGP Catalunya: Franco Morbidelli Takes Maiden Pole Position, Leads Yamaha 1-2-3
- MotoGP Catalunya took place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona on September 26th.
Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha) took his first-ever MotoGP pole position with 1'38.798s. His team-mate Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha) was 2nd position.
Valentino Rossi (Monster Yamaha) was 3rd. This marks his first front row since the 2019 British GP. The event saw Yamaha 1-2-3 in qualifying.
Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati), Maverick Vinales (Monster Yamaha) and Johann Zarco (Reale Avintia) will start on 2nd row.
The Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) could not advance to Q2 from Q1, and was only 17th.
Franco Morbidelli said, “It was great to be first today; to see that I was the fastest is a really good feeling. It's always difficult to beat Fabio on a hot lap, so I'm very happy about qualifying today. I was feeling great on the bike and I felt that I could push a lot, on both tyres as well. Now it's a matter of trying to refine everything for tomorrow and we will try to make a good start. We have a good pace, but there are many riders with a similar pace to us. It will be important to try to improve a little bit more for tomorrow, but I'm sure it is going to be a good race. I also want to congratulate Valentino [Rossi] on one more year in MotoGP and tell him that he is moving to a great team. It will be nice to have him as a team-mate.”
Also, before Qualifying, Valentino Rossi announced he made a contract with Petronas SRT Yamaha for 2021. But, the deal is one year only. He has spent 15 seasons as an official Yamaha Factory rider.
“I am very happy and very proud of this decision because I want to continue to race,” said Valentino Rossi. “It's a strange season, so my plan at the start of the season was to see if I was still competitive and after we spoke a lot with Lin, Yamaha and the Petronas team. It has been a long time I have been with the Factory Yamaha team, from 2013 the second part, but I think this move is good for me and I have to thank Lin and Yamaha because they continue to give me factory support. I don't think a lot will change, just the colours of the bike because the Petronas is a high level and very professional with many important results.”
Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya Grand Prix Qualifying Results- Franco Morbidelli / Petronas Yamaha / 1'38.798s
- Fabio Quartararo / Petronas Yamaha / +0.210s
- Valentino Rossi / Monster Yamaha / +0.331s
- Jack Miller / Pramac Ducati / +0.427s
- Maverick Vinales / Monster Yamaha / +0.573s
- Johann Zarco / Reale Avintia / +0.580s
- Pol Espargaro / Red Bull KTM / +0.697s
- Joan Mir / Suzuki Ecstar / +0.830s
- Danilo Petrucci / Ducati Team / +0.843s
- Brad Binder / Red Bull KTM / +0.861s
- Takaaki Nakagami / LCR Honda / +0.915s
- Miguel Oliveira / Red Bull KTM Tech3 / +1.390s
- Alex Rins / Suzuki Ecstar / 1'39.751s
- Francesco Bagnaia / Pramac Ducati / 1'39.777s
- Aleix Espargaro / Aprilia Gresini / 1'39.973s
- Cal Crutchlow / LCR Honda / 1'39.988s
- Andrea Dovizioso / Ducati Team / 1'40.109s
- Alex Marquez / Repsol Honda / 1'40.164s
- Iker Lecuona / Red Bull KTM Tech3 / 1'40.49s
- Stefan Bradl / Repsol Honda / 1'40.721s
- Bradley Smith / Aprilia Gresini / 1'40.838s
- Tito Rabat / Reale Avintia / 1'41.013s
- source : MotoGP
