
Quartararo sets Spanish MotoGP record to claim pole
It was Quartararo's 17th pole but his first since Indonesia in 2022.
The French Yamaha rider's time of 1min 35.610sec edged Marc Marquez's Q2 time by 0.033 of a second, after the world championship leader had taken the record from his brother Alex Marquez, set on Friday, by three-tenths of a second.
Completing the front row is Francesco Bagnaia, who only had one bike available after his crash in practice earlier, but the two-time world champion put in a strong showing after the Ducati Lenovo rider's recent struggles.
For the first time this season Alex Marquez was off the front row, coming in fourth, lining up with Franco Morbidelli and Maverick Vinales on the grid.
"(I'm) very, very happy, especially for the work done, little by little we are catching up," said Quartararo.
Despite being pipped by the Frenchman, Marc Marquez was content with the qualifying session ahead of Sunday's main event.
"Fabio had an incredible lap, a circuit record," said Marc Marquez, who leads the standings from his brother Alex, and then Bagnaia.
"The objective was to be in the first row, we did that, now we have to start well and see what we can do in the race."

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


France 24
37 minutes ago
- France 24
Paris Olympics and Paralympics cost taxpayer nearly 6 bn euros: state body
The organisation of the two sporting extravaganzas last summer cost 2.77 billion euros, which included 1.4 billion euros for security. A further 3.19 billion euros was spent on work linked to infrastructure projects. The Olympics ran from July 26 to August 11, while the Paralympics took place from August 28 to September 8, with organisers making the most of historic sites in central Paris, either as venues or the backdrop to the events. The Games were widely hailed as highly successful. The national audit body said there would be a "heightened interest" in the figures because France is also preparing to host the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps. It is the first time actual figures have been announced, although the president of the national audit body, Pierre Moscovici, had in 2024 said they would cost the state "three, maybe four, five billion euros". Moscovici, a former French finance minister and European Union Commissioner, added that the real costs would only be known at the end of the Games. Until now only the costs of the local organising committee (COJO) of 4.4 billion euros, which represented a surplus of 76 million euros, have been made public. That figure came almost exclusively from private financing and from Solideo, the body responsible for delivering Olympic construction projects, which was in part publicly financed. A more detailled report will be published in October as other costs are not yet known. The body added that because of a lack of concrete information the figures did not include "the positive and negative impact the Games had on economic activity". It said however that the Games were "indisputably a success with the public and the media".


France 24
17 hours ago
- France 24
Almeida wins time-trial to take Tour of Switzerland
"I think I started too fast," the Portuguese rider said after the closing 10.1km uphill time-trial. "I overpaced in the beginning. In the end, I hoped to have enough gas to push in the last kilometre, but in the end it was not necessary." Almeida beat Austrian Felix Gall by 25 seconds and Frenchman Vauquelin, who was fourth on the day, by 1min 40sec. "It's a lesson: you should never give up," said Almeida, who lost the race by 22 seconds last year. "Sometimes things go wrong and nothing is perfect, but you need to keep trying. We kept trying and we did it." It was second straight stage victory for Almeida, who had cut Vauquelin's lead to 33 seconds on Saturday. Sunday's ultimately dominant ride meant the Portuguese rider beat Vauquelin by 1:07 in the overall standings. "I'm super happy. I did a good climb, and I was feeling really good," Almeida said. Almeida is a team-mate of reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar, who recently won another warm-up race the Criterium du Dauphine. Almeida said he understood what his role would be. "I'll have time to enjoy this win and I'll be ready for the Tour de France," Almeida said. "I'll support Tadej Pogacar there and hope we can get more great wins." Breakout star Scotsman Oscar Onley was third on the day 1:12 behind Almeida and finished third overall 51sec behind Vauquelin. Vauquelin was striving to become he first French rider to win any stage race on the elite road racing World Tour circuit since Christophe Moreau claimed the Criterium du Dauphine in 2007.


France 24
21 hours ago
- France 24
Marc Marquez completes perfect Mugello weekend with Italian MotoGP triumph
The Ducati rider came through a brilliant early battle with his brother Alex, in second, and teammate Francesco Bagnaia to extend his championship lead over his sibling to 40 points after also winning Saturday's sprint race. The 32-year-old started on pole but didn't have it all his own way, not securing first place until lap nine as he, Alex Marquez and Bagnaia exchanged the lead with some thrilling riding. But he claimed his fifth win from nine Grands Prix in what has been a dream first campaign with Ducati's factory team, and his first victory at Mugello since 2014. Marc Marquez has now won the sprint and main race at the Thailand, Argentina, Qatar, Aragon and Italian MotoGPs so far in 2025. He is already red-hot favourite to draw level with great rival Valentino Rossi on seven world crowns, and move one behind all-time record winner Giacomo Agostini. That would be a bitter pill to swallow for retired Rossi who has openly called Marquez a "dirty" rider who actively worked to stop him from winning what would have been his eighth world title a decade ago. Italian motorcyling fans still blame Marquez for crashing into Rossi in that year's penultimate Malaysian MotoGP, even though their hero was the one punished by having to start the final race of 2015 at the back of the grid, virtually guaranteeing Lorenzo the title. Marc Marquez was loudly booed by a significant portion of the Mugello crowd after Saturday's sprint race to the point that team manager Davide Tardozzi stormed over to the stands to tell fans to "shut up". But on Sunday the local supporters cheered him after he pulled even further away from local hero Bagnaia, a two-time world champion who is now 110 points off the pace in the standings after finishing fourth. Bagnaia had won the previous three races at his home track of Mugello but ended up losing a podium place to Fabio Di Giannantonio, who rides for Ducati satellite team VR46 Racing, with two laps remaining. It was a frustrating day on home soil for Bagnaia, and the latest disappointing result in a season in which he has been eclipsed by Marc Marquez.