Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo has taken his second MotoGP pole position in a row after a faster lap from Maverick Vinales was cancelled for exceeding track limits.
Quartararo had been in top spot with a 1’37.007, set on a hard/soft combination of Michelins, but Vinales had his measure and put in a 1’36.907 but he ran over the wrong side of the blue and white kerbing and race direction cancelled it.
The two Yamaha men are joined on the front row by Pramac Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia who finished 0.169s down on the Petronas man and takes his maiden top-three grid slot.
Marc Marquez did an outlap in qualifying one and annunced his withdrawal from the race weekend after Q2 chequered flag. Brother Alex crashed unhurt on his his final lap and will start dead last.
Valentino Rossi jammed two fingers up at those who said he quit on his stool last weekend by taking fourth with a lap only 0.355s behind Quartararo, a man 20 years his junior.
It was deep joy for the Tech3 KTM squad who saw their lead rider Miguel Oliveira come through qualifying one to bag fifth place with a lap only 0.002s slower than the nine-time world champion.
Franco Morbidelli was the other rider to come through Q1 but took his Petronas Yamaha to sixth place with a 1'37.412.
Jack Miller will be disappointed with his seventh place on the grid while Taka Nakagami ran off track on his final flying lap so will had to settle for eighth.
Rookie Brad Binder bagged ninth on his works KTM with Joan Mir one place further back. Danilo Petrucci is the leading factory Ducati in 11th while Pol Espargaro crashed again in Q2 and finished the session last, and 12th overall.
Injured Cal Crutchlow missed Q2 by only a tenth of a second so starts tomorrow in 13th with Andrea Dovizioso down in 14th and Johann Zarco competing the top 15.
