Francesco Bagnaia secured pole position for the Barcelona Grand Prix, while his championship rival Jorge Martin finished in fourth.

Q1

Saturday began with FP2, where Maverick Viñales topped the session. Bagnaia finished ahead of Martin, building anticipation for today’s sprint race.

In Q1, Franco Morbidelli set an early benchmark and topped the session before Jack Miller crashed at Turn 5. Despite this setback, Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo advanced to Q2.

Joan Mir missed out on advancing to Q2, qualifying 13th, but he will start ahead of Miguel Oliveira, who made his return with Aprilia. Alex Rins took 15th, followed by Luca Marini and Raul Fernandez. It was a tough day for KTM, with Brad Binder finishing 18th and Jack Miller 19th after his late crash in Q1.

Q2

Bagnaia was dominant from the start of Q2, immediately setting a time of 1:38.835s to claim the top spot. Marc Marquez took advantage of Bagnaia’s slipstream to momentarily secure second place, while Martin was pushed off the front row by Aleix Espargaro, who claimed second.

Bagnaia set an impressive time of 1:38.641s on his final lap during Q2, narrowly beating Espargaro by 0.055s.

For the final runs, Bagnaia opted for a clean lap, heading onto the track early with a fresh rear tire to avoid other riders. This strategy proved highly effective, as he shaved two-tenths off his previous time, taking pole position without interference. Espargaro posed a challenge on his final lap but could only manage a best time of 1:38.696s, falling short of pole. Marquez completed the front row in third, benefiting from a slipstream.

Martin settled for fourth. Despite this, he remains in contention to secure his title in the sprint race. Franco Morbidelli impressed by advancing from Q1 to qualify fifth, largely thanks to slipstreams from both Bagnaia and Marquez. Morbidelli even outpaced Pedro Acosta, who took sixth.

Maverick Viñales secured seventh, ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marco Bezzecchi. Fabio Quartararo delivered a solid performance in Q1 and advanced to Q2, where he rounded out the top 10. Alex Marquez crashed early in Q2 and finished 11th, while Johann Zarco, despite strong practice times, ended up in 12th.