Gresini ducati

Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying: France’s Fabio Quartararo roared back into the MotoGP spotlight, stealing pole position from a rampant Marc Marquez in a dramatic climax to qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuito de Jerez on Saturday. In a session where the lap record was shattered not once but twice, Quartararo’s stunning late charge left the home crowd momentarily silent.

Marquez, the six-time MotoGP World Champion and crowd favourite at the Circuito de Jerez, looked poised to clinch his fifth consecutive pole position. His early benchmark time of 1:35.643 seemed unassailable as he pushed his Ducati to its very limits.

But in the dying moments of the second qualifying round (Q2), Quartararo — a man with something to prove after a turbulent couple of seasons — unleashed a flawless lap of 1:35.610, snatching his first pole since 2022 by the slimmest of margins.