MotoGP: Aleix Espargaro takes pole at Jerez

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Aleix Espargaro won his first MotoGP pole position of the season at Jerez Saturday, and his first in front of his home crowd in Jerez.

In a Q2 session that saw light rain cause the top time change hands 14 times across 15 minutes, Aprilia’s Espargaro nailed his final lap to be one of the last across the line to start his last lap while conditions were at their best to produce a 1m37.216s.

As a result, Espargaro won pole by 0.221 seconds from KTM’s Jack Miller, while Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin completed the top three for the sprint race and grand prix.

Qualifying Results

Pos	No./Rider	Team	Bike	Session	Time	Behind	Gap
1	41 Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA Aprilia Racing	APRILIA	Q2	1’37.216	0.000	0.000
2	43 Jack MILLER	AUS Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	Q2	1’37.437	0.221	0.221
3	89 Jorge MARTIN	SPA Prima Pramac Racing	DUCATI	Q2	1’37.458	0.242	0.021
4	33 Brad BINDER	RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	Q2	1’37.532	0.316	0.074
5	1 Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA Ducati Lenovo Team	DUCATI	Q2	1’37.557	0.341	0.025
6	26 Dani PEDROSA	SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	Q2	1’37.583	0.367	0.026
7	88 Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team	APRILIA	Q2	1’37.596	0.380	0.013
8	5 Johann ZARCO	FRA Prima Pramac Racing	DUCATI	Q2	1’37.616	0.400	0.020
9	10 Luca MARINI	ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team	DUCATI	Q2	1’37.666	0.450	0.050
10	12 Maverick VIÑALES	SPA Aprilia Racing	APRILIA	Q2	1’37.765	0.549	0.099
11	30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN LCR Honda IDEMITSU	HONDA	Q2	1’37.876	0.660	0.111
12	73 Alex MARQUEZ	SPA Gresini Racing MotoGP	DUCATI	Q2	1’37.920	0.704	0.044
13	72 Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team	DUCATI	Q1	1’36.578	(*) 0.085
14	21 Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	YAMAHA	Q1	1’36.793	(*) 0.300	0.215
15	49 Fabio DI GIANNANTON	ITA Gresini Racing MotoGP	DUCATI	Q1	1’36.967	(*) 0.474	0.174
16	20 Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	YAMAHA	Q1	1’37.072	(*) 0.579	0.105
17	25 Raul FERNANDEZ	SPA CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team	APRILIA	Q1	1’37.164	(*) 0.671	0.092
18	42 Alex RINS	SPA LCR Honda CASTROL	HONDA	Q1	1’37.256	(*) 0.763	0.092
19	6 Stefan BRADL	GER HRC Team	HONDA	Q1	1’37.297	(*) 0.804	0.041
20	36 Joan MIR	SPA Repsol Honda Team	HONDA	Q1	1’37.346	(*) 0.853	0.049
21	37 Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3	KTM	Q1	1’37.753	(*) 1.260	0.407
22	94 Jonas FOLGER	GER GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3	KTM	Q1	1’38.492	(*) 1.999	0.739
23	27 Iker LECUONA	SPA Repsol Honda Team	HONDA	Q1	1’38.582	(*) 2.089	0.090
24	23 Enea BASTIANINI	ITA Ducati Lenovo Team	DUCATI	P2	1’37.985	1.277

*Gap to fastest rider in Q1