Valencia (Spain) (AFP)
Spaniard Pol Espargaro will start from pole position for the European GP on Sunday ahead of his compatriot Alex Rins (Suzuki), Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha-SRT), 2nd in the world championship, placing only 11th.
"In the last lap I said to myself + it's all or nothing + and even if it was difficult I did it", declared Espargaro who thus obtains his 2nd pole position of the season but has never yet won racing in MotoGP.
The leader of the championship, the Spaniard Joan Mir (Suzuki), will start from 5th place on the grid, just behind the Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati-Avintia).
Japanese Takaaki Nakagami (Honda-LCR) finished 3rd in qualifying which took place on a still wet track.
Mir and Quartararo are separated by 14 points in the championship standings with three events remaining.
Spaniard Maverick Vinales (Yamaha), 3rd in the championship 19 points behind Mir, will start from the pit lane after being penalized for an engine change.
Johann Zarco, who had to go through Q1 to join the twelve fastest riders participating in Q2, finally achieved the best performance of all Ducati riders, the Australian Jack Miller, the fastest in free practice, did not qualifying as 6th.
Fabio Quartararo has never shown himself at ease on a track which gradually dried up but remained wet after the morning rains.
He will therefore start behind Joan Mir, the Suzuki showing on the other hand very comfortable, Alex Rins not being blown the pole by Espargaro until in the last seconds of the qualifying session.
KTM has already claimed a victory this season - the Austrian brand's first in MotoGP - with Brad Binder at the Czech Republic GP.
The latter, 10th on Saturday, will however have to take a “long lap” penalty during the race on Sunday by taking a detour on the circuit, after having been penalized for an accident during the previous Grand Prix of Teruel.
The seven-time world champion in the premier class, the Italian Valentino Rossi, who was unable to drive Friday while awaiting the result of a coronavirus test, will start in 17th position on the grid.
© 2020 AFP