Pramac rookie Jorge Martin was the star of the show in Saturday’s MotoGP qualifying as he secured pole position by 0.15s from teammate Johann Zarco.
Factory battles continued down the times as Ducati and Yamaha riders shared out the top-six spoils while Valentino Rossi’s woes continued with a painful 21st place start for Sunday’s 22-lap race.
Cooler and calmer conditions greeted the MotoGP riders as the final qualifying kicked off in Qatar. Joan Mir, Pol Espargaro and Rossi once again joining the Q1 fray as they jockeyed for the two all-important promotion places.
The Suzuki took the advantage as the opening hot-laps registered. His 1’54.314 sitting him three-tenths clear of Brad Binder’s next best effort and Danilo Petrucci narrowly behind his fellow KTM in third as he used Rossi as a marker across the line. The experienced Italian sat fifth at the halfway stage, with younger brother Luca Marini 0.080s ahead in fourth.
Five minutes to go and Espargaro headed out for his one and only run - the Repsol Honda having aborted his opening effort without setting a time with Enea Bastianini doing likewise, as the Avintia rookie seemed to be struggling, eight-seconds off the pace.
Petrucci was back on a charge as the clock counted down, sliding into second with a ’54.5 as the South African slid down the standings to sixth. Further flying laps placed Marini into contention as the rookie took second just as the flag was prepared before Mir and Miguel Oliveira improved in the dying seconds to advance into the closing shootout.
Marini and Alex Marquez were denied promotion by 0.008 and 0.4 respectively as second to sixth were separated by less than three-tenths of a second, Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami completing the hard-fighting group. Petrucci found himself seventh at the end of Q1 ahead of Binder and Bastianini with Iker Lecuona leading a despondent Rossi and Lorenzo Savadori as the standings concluded.
A Ducati claimed the times as the first Q2 shots fired, but not the one everyone was expecting. Jorge Martin set an eye-opening 1’53.892 pace on only his second weekend in the premier class, with Fabio Quartararo, Aleix Espargaro, and the VR46 academy duo of Franky Morbidelli and Pecco Bagnaia following fast behind.
The second shots saw Martin once again back in control after reducing his time by 0.3s, with the top-five improving, consolidated and unchanged. Jack Miller sat sixth as the riders headed for fresh tyres, fractionally ahead of Zarco, with Mir, Maverick Viñales, Alex Rins and Stefan Bradl completing the times - Oliveira had yet to register in the closing session.
The climactic finale saw Viñales take the initial lead with a 53’3 before heading back out for another go, with no other laps seeming to threaten as the clock ticked down. The Spaniard took the flag with a 53’267 as the rest of the pack finally fired up for their one and only shots and the paddock waited with bated breath.
It was Ducati power that yet again sealed the deal but in the somewhat unexpected form of a pair of Pramac’s. Martin again stole pole position, this time from Zarco in the final seconds as Miller soared through into fourth to split the Yamaha’s.
Viñales and Quartararo finished third and fifth respectively with last-weekend’s pole-sitter, Bagnaia, a disappointing sixth. Espargaro sat his Aprilia seventh ahead of the Suzukis of Rins and Mir with Morbidelli, Bradl and Oliveira concluding the top-12.
