In difficult drying conditions, the French double Moto2 champion saved his best to the end of the 15-minute qualifying session to claim his first pole position.
The independent Monster Yamaha teamster sneaked under Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez’s time by less than a tenth, on an afternoon where some stars struggled on the cold track: Points leader Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) was 11th; Jerez winner Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was 12th, last in Q2. Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) didn’t manage to make it out of Q1, and will start from 21st on the grid.
With long-time Q2 leader Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati) third, it made three different makes on the front row.
Zarco is the first French rider to start from pole in the top class since Olivier Jacque on a two-stroke 500cc Yamaha at the Sachsenring in 2002.
“In qualifying when the line was drying I was thinking to stop to change my tyre … but there was no time, so I slowed down then pushed in the last laps,” said Zarco. He had done something similar, he added, on wet tyres on a dry track in Moto2.
Marquez was satisfied. “My target was to push a little bit more every lap, then do the last lap on the limit. I made a few little mistakes, but I was riding well, riding smoothly.”
Petrucci, however, was disappointed. “I expected to be on pole, but in the last sector on the last lap I made a mistake, and I missed the opportunity.”
Valentino Rossi had challenged, but the Movistar Yamaha rider missed the front row by less than two tenths. He might have been lower than fourth had Pramac Ducati rider Scott Redding, through from Q1, not crashed out late in the session.
Second Monster Yamaha rider Jonas Folger completed row two; Aspar Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista led the third from Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati). Dovi crashed early in the session, and just made it back in time to improve his position.
Sam Lowes (Aprilia) had also made it through from Q1 for the first time in his MotoGP rookie season, but suffered a smoky blow-up mid-session. The oil he dropped caused the subsequent Moto2 session to be delayed. He ended up tenth, ahead of factory stars Vinales and Pedrosa.
Moto2 qualifying was interrupted early on by the red flags while injury victim Lorenzo Baldassarri was treated at the trackside (see separate news story).
When it resumed, the track had dried for a furious half-hour shoot-out, with the first nine qualifiers inside half a second of third-time pole starter Franco Morbidelli (EG-VDS Kalex).
His team-mate and title challenger Alex Marquez had been disputing the lead with him earlier, but slipped off with 12 minutes to go. Although he did manage to get out before the end, it was too late, and he ended up on the third row.
Second went instead to Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Kalex); thwarted in his hopes for pole running on at the final chicane. CarXpert rider Tom Luthi, also a title factor, completed an all-Kalex front row.
Miguel Oliveira was close, heading row two on the Red Bull KTM, from late-coming rookie Fabio Quartararo (HP Kalex), who put Xavier Simeon (Tasca Kalex) down to sixth, and Mugello winner Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Kalex) down to the head of row three, ahead of Marquez. It had been a remarkable recovery by Pasini, who crashed early on, then fell again after his bike was repaired before setting a time. His pit crew got him out again for a spectacular late-session charge.
Dutch hopes were dashed and hearts broken in Moto3, where local hero Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM) was not only fastest in wet morning FP3, but led most of a gradually drying qualifying session in the afternoon.
He was knocked off the top with minutes to go by Jorge Martin (Del Conca Honda), but fought straight back, taking the spot again as the chequered flag came out.
But Martin was still out on track, on an absolute flier, and took his fifth pole of the season by a massive margin of eight tenths of a second.
It didn’t dry fast enough for slick tyres, and the grid had some surprises. Nicolo Bulega (SKY VR46 KTM) was familiar in third, but Thai rookie Nakarin Atiratphuvapat (Team Asia Honda) was a surprise fourth, then fellow rookie Marco Bezzecchi (CIP Mahindra) fifth, ahead of season stars Aron Canet and Joan Mir (both Honda) in sixth and seventh.
Race winners Romano Fenati (Honda) and Andrea Migno (KTM) were 15th and 27th respectively; Martin’s fast team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio 21st, promising some exciting first laps in tomorrow’s race.
