Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro has reset his own All Time Lap Record to claim pole position for the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. In what was a three-way fight for pole in MotoGP™ Q2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Aleix Espargaro’s 1:38.742 saw him prevail by just 0.031 seconds over the Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia. World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) is also set to start from the front row on Sunday afternoon.

Row 2 will be all-Ducati, with Prima Pramac Racing’s Johann Zarco fourth, his team-mate Jorge Martin sixth, and Gresini Racing MotoGP™’s Fabio Di Giannantonio between them on the starting grid. The second Aprilia Racing entry, piloted by Maverick Viñales, will line up on the middle of Row 3.
Bagnaia pushes A. Espargaro all the way
It was very tight at the end of the first runs of Q2, with Quartararo top on a 1:39.055, Bagnaia second at just a hundredth of a second off the pace, and Aleix Espargaro only two thousandths slower again in third spot. Viñales had come through Q1 to be eighth by the time the track went quiet on a 1:39.594.

While track temperature was approaching 60 degrees Celsius, the pace was just as hot when riders came back out for their second runs. Bagnaia raised the stakes when he punched out a 1:38.787, only 0.016 seconds away from the lap record which Aleix Espargaro had achieved in FP3, before taking an excursion through the run-off area at Turn 1. Aprilia's 'Captain' then snatched provisional pole with that 1:38.742, while Quartararo consolidated third spot with a 1:38.959.
Apparently not content to rest on his laurels, Aleix Espargaro was still pushing on his final lap when he outbraked himself at Turn 10. Bagnaia was also continuing to chase time, and time he did find, but only enough to eke out a 1:38.773, meaning the older of the brothers from nearby Granollers would indeed take a second pole position of the season.