Fabio Quartararo becomes the youngest ever MotoGP pole sitter at 20 years, 14 days after setting a new Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto lap record in qualifying, a 1:36.880 seeing the Frenchman beat teammate Franco Morbidelli by 0.082 as the new Petronas Yamaha SRT outfit lockout the front of the grid.
Marc Marquez had to settle for third after losing out by a slender 0.090 to Quartararo.
It was Jorge Lorenzo who led the field onto their first flying laps and stalking the number 99 was teammate Marquez, and the reigning World Champion was able to take full advantage of Lorenzo’s draft to set a 1:36.970 straight out the blocks. A formidable first benchmark as Marquez then pulled straight in, seemingly attempting the two-stop strategy.
Cal Crutchlow went to second before Free Practice leader Danilo Petrucci emerged as Marquez’ closest challenger in the early stages of Q2 – the gap over three tenths though. But it wasn’t for long, Morbidelli was fourth after his first flyer but on his second attempt, the Italian went within a tenth of Marquez’ provisional pole time as 0.7 split the top 12 after the first set of runs, Quartararo sitting fifth at this point.
Marquez emerged on his second set of Michelin slicks before the rest and it was looking good for the Honda rider to move the goal posts further from his rivals, but he lost time in the last sector and it was as you were when the rest of the field ventured back out on fresh rubber. After a solid weekend so far, Lorenzo’s qualifying ended early after a crash at Turn 2 – rider ok. Not the birthday present the five-time World Champion was looking for.
Back on track and it wasn’t long before a certain 20-year-old was setting the timing screens alight, but would he be able to hold his advantage? Absolutely. Quartararo went P1 with a blistering 1:36.880 – the best lap of the weekend and a new lap record. It was far from over though, Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) was on a very hot lap and was threatening Quartararo’s time, but the Italian lost time in the last sector and slotted into fourth. And what about Morbidelli? The Italian was pushing hard and propelled himself into P2, 0.082 off his teammate and 0.008 ahead of Marquez.
At this point, Marquez was gearing up for his third run. A tenth down in the first sector wasn’t what he was looking for and, in true 93 fashion, he was on ragged edge – but this proved costly. Out of shape at Pedrosa Corner and a huge front end slide at Turn 7 ended his pole position hopes, handing Quartararo his maiden MotoGP P1 grid slot start, four years on from his maiden Grand Prix pole at Jerez, as Petronas Yamaha SRT take a sensational Spanish GP qualifying 1-2.
The last time that happened? Sete Gibernau and Marco Melandri at the 2005 Chinese GP.
Marquez completes the front row, he loses his youngest premier class pole crown to Quartararo but starts just ahead of Dovizioso in fourth. Q1 graduate Maverick Viñales will launch from P5 after a good second run in Q2 to finish 0.234 from pole, last year’s pole man Crutchlow completes the second row in sixth. Petrucci, a late crasher at Turn 1, starts seventh after looking strong all weekend. The Italian only 0.3 from P1 as he’s joined by Takaaki Nakagami – his best qualifying in the premier class – and Alex Rins on the third row.
Francesco Bagnaia knocked Valentino Rossi from the top two in Q1 to get a Q2 place, the reigning Moto2 Champion starts 10th with Lorenzo and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) finishing 11th and 12th respectively.
Second in the Championship Rossi has to work his Sunday magic again after qualifying 13th. A big day lies ahead for The Doctor in Jerez.
Full Qualifying Result:
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
| 1 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1’36.880 | |
| 2 | Franco MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1’36.962 | 0.082 / 0.082 |
| 3 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1’36.970 | 0.090 / 0.008 |
| 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1’37.018 | 0.138 / 0.048 |
| 5 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1’37.114 | 0.234 / 0.096 |
| 6 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | 1’37.175 | 0.295 / 0.061 |
| 7 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1’37.209 | 0.329 / 0.034 |
| 8 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1’37.332 | 0.452 / 0.123 |
| 9 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1’37.351 | 0.471 / 0.019 |
| 10 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati | 1’37.384 | 0.504 / 0.033 |
| 11 | Jorge LORENZO | Honda | 1’37.496 | 0.616 / 0.112 |
| 12 | Joan MIR | Suzuki | 1’37.514 | 0.634 / 0.018 |
| Q1 | ||||
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
| 1 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1’37.164 | |
| 2 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati | 1’37.299 | 0.135 / 0.135 |
| 3 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1’37.371 | 0.207 / 0.072 |
| 4 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 1’37.406 | 0.242 / 0.035 |
| 5 | Jack MILLER | Ducati | 1’37.605 | 0.441 / 0.199 |
| 6 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia | 1’37.625 | 0.461 / 0.020 |
| 7 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | 1’37.798 | 0.634 / 0.173 |
| 8 | Johann ZARCO | KTM | 1’37.820 | 0.656 / 0.022 |
| 9 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia | 1’38.357 | 1.193 / 0.537 |
| 10 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1’38.403 | 1.239 / 0.046 |
| 11 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1’38.447 | 1.283 / 0.044 |
| 12 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1’38.894 | 1.730 / 0.447 |
| 13 | Hafizh SYAHRIN | KTM | 1’40.042 | 2.878 / 1.148 |
| Andrea IANNONE | Aprilia | |||
