2019 Barcelona MotoGP Qualifying Result: Blue Is The New Orange *UPDATED*

With 17 riders finishing FP3 within one second and the premier class youngsters dominating FP4, qualifying promised another tense battle of the generations. The fight started with formation flying for the Petronas boys which on the first run saw Franco Morbidelli lead Fabio Quartararo before the Frenchman got one back on the next outing to secure his second equally impressive pole position of the year. By the time the checkered flag waved, you could barely tell that the rookie was thinking of Assen in the hospital down the road just one week ago.

Marc Marquez deployed all his Wile E. Coyote strategies and Road Runner reflexes to take down his younger rival and the miraculous knee saved him once again in turn four but hampered his final flying lap. The Honda man missed out on pole by one hundredth of a second and will start Sunday’s race in a Yamaha sandwich between Quartararo and Maverick Viñales. The factory Yamaha rider’s late found speed demoted Q1 escapee Morbidelli to the second row by only one thousandth of a second but the Italian with start in pleasant company ahead of mentor Valentino Rossi, who made it a surprising four Yamahas in the top five. Second row will also be a familiar sight for Andrea Dovizioso, the Italian top Ducati in sixth and fairly subdued in qualifying.

Maybe his seventh qualifying position might not make it immediately obvious but Danilo Petrucci continued to struggle and started his session with a tumble in turn five while cruising. However, it caused minimal damage so the Italian could carry on but it wouldn’t have helped much with confidence. It was more of the same for Alex Rins, who went down at an even more crucial time, on a hot lap on his final run and got dropped to eighth, in the middle of row three, between Petrucci and Cal Crutchlow.

Jorge Lorenzo and his new tank fins will open row four, ahead of Joan Mir and Pol Espargaro. The likes of Pecco Bagnaia, Jack Miller and Karel Abraham were best of the rest in Q1, while Takaaki Nakagami will have quite a challenge to replicate his Mugello adventures from 16th on the grid.

UPDATE: Maverick Viñales received a three-place grid penalty for being slow on the racing line and disturbing another rider, basically popping wheelies at the fans too soon and getting in Quartararo's way on his final flying lap. The Spaniard will start sixth on the grid instead, promoting Morbidelli to the front row and giving a helping hand to Rossi and Dovizioso as well. 

Results:

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