Quatararo on the front line in Catalonia

Three Yamaha, with in order Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Quartararo and veteran Valentino Rossi, will start from the front row for the Catalan Motorcycle Grand Prix on Sunday.

Italian Morbidelli obtained his first pole position in MotoGP on Saturday, two weeks after his first victory, ahead of his Yamaha-SRT teammate, Frenchman Fabio Quartararo.

“Beating Fabio on a qualifying round is good because it means that you are very fast.

I wanted to have a very good lap and tomorrow we will try to have a good race, ”said Morbidelli, currently 5th in the world championship.

“I did the best I could.

I'm happy with my second place because Franco was very fast today and he deserves his pole ”, declared the French driver, for the moment 2nd in the general classification of the championship.

The surprise came from Valentino Rossi who, for the first time in over a year, will start from the front row on his factory Yamaha.

“It's really a good result to be on the front row, especially today which is special because I signed a contract for next year,” said Rossi, 41.

Just before qualifying, he announced that he would join the Yamaha-SRT team next year where he will replace Quartararo who himself will take his place in the Yamaha factory team.

Australian Jack Miller (Ducati-Pramac), Spaniard Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) and French Johann Zarco (Ducati-Avintia) will make up the second row on the grid.

The Italian Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), current leader of the world championship with one point ahead of Quartararo and Vinales, will only start 17th, which compromises his chances of retaining the lead in the general classification on Sunday evening.

200th podium for Rossi?

Four drivers are currently standing in four points (Dovizioso, Quartararo, Vinales and Joan Mir) while seven races have already been contested in the premier class and eight, including the GP of Catalonia on Sunday, remain to be raced.

Joan Mir, who will start only 8th, will also have a lot to do to stay in the top quartet of the championship.

The young Spaniard, who has never won in MotoGP yet, is considered a formidable finisher.

Morbidelli could see another victory, after that obtained in Misano a fortnight ago, allow him to pick up the championship where he is currently 20 points behind Dovizioso.

The fact that it was the two Yamaha of the SRT satellite team who achieved the best qualifying times on Saturday validates Valentino Rossi's choice to join this team next year for one more year at the top.

He knew he had to make way for Quartararo in the factory team next year, but the excellent results of Malaysian team SRT, which are only in their second year in MotoGP, shows that the latter enjoys the full support of the factory.

"His experience will be a huge asset for our team which will then begin its 3rd season in MotoGP and we will certainly learn a lot from him", stressed on Saturday about Rossi the main team of SRT, Razlan Razali who can thus be consoled to let go. Quartararo.

Rossi also trained Morbidelli within his VR46 Academy and the two will form a top team next year.

Lin Jarvis, the head of the Yamaha factory team, also indicated on Saturday that Rossi had obtained the benefit in 2021 of a machine almost identical to the factory one.

If the veteran Italian managed to get on the podium on Sunday, it would be the 200th of his career.

The disappointment of these qualifications came from the KTMs who could not do better than 7th with Pol Espargaro and 10th with Brad Binder on the factory machines side and 12th with the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira on that of the French satellite team KTM- Tech3.

The choice of tires will still be crucial on Sunday with sunny weather but which was getting cooler and still windy.

The start of the Grand Prix will be given at 13:00 GMT.

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