Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli took his maiden MotoGP pole position this afternoon at Catalunya and led a Yamaha lockout of the front row as Fabio Quartararo and Valentino Rossi join him in the top slots.
Morbidelli was the only rider to go under the 1’39s barrier but just missed out on beating Jorge Lorenzo’s two-year-old outright lap record by a tenth of a second.
Quartararo looked like he had bagged the top spot with a 1'39.008 but Morbidelli had other ideas and came out swinging with a 1'38.798.
Rossi, who signed a new deal with Yamaha and Petronas to remain in the series for another year, ended three-tenths behind his protege and 2021 team-mate.
Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller had to come through qualifying one and that left him with only one soft rear. The Australian made it count, though, as he leads row two with as 1'39.225.
Maverick Vinales wasn't quite on his usual Saturday form, taking fifth place and he has Johann Zarco for company as the Frenchman shuffled former team-mate Pol Espargaro out of sixth place with his last lap.
Joan Mir's problems with qualifying continue as the Ecstar Suzuki man ended in eighth place with Danilo Petrucci in ninth.
Brad Binder took his KTM to tenth with Taka Nakagami, also a qualifying one graduate, in 11th. Miguel Oliveira had a tumble and finished in 12th place.
Alex Rins failed to make it out of Q1 and will start from 13th with Pecco Bagnaia next to him.
Aleix Espargaro managed to stay ahead of the injured Cal Crutchlow while championship points leader Dovizioso could only muster 17th place on the works Ducati, nearly a second slower than Miller's satellite GP20.
