Second half of the season has begun, as the riders went for a highest grid position on this weekend Catalan GP at the “Circuito de Barcelona –  Cataluña”. As Dovizioso, Quartararo, Viñales and Mir seek to have a strong weekend, as they top the championship standings by just a small difference.

The first session began as the Ducati bikes having to carry on many issues of pace performance from all weekend long; As Dovizioso, Miller and Bagnaia went to pass Q1 in order to advance through next session. Honda were also having trouble, as the official riders once again having pace issues. Also the LCR riders were having trouble to adapt to track conditions, especially for Cal Crutchlow, coming back dealing with pain due to injuries.

First stint was led by Andrea Dovizioso and Alex Rins, but eventually were overtook by Jack Miller and Aleix Espargaro, with a constant change of places at the middle zone. On the last stint, Miller found an optimal pacd for his bike, and even improved the best time on the session, as last ticket to Q2 was in the air, Rins, Nakagami, Bagnaia and Aleix were the main names that could got his place at next session, as the Spaniard Suzuki rider was ahead on the last seconds, but the Japanese rider set a strong lap to take his P2 at the session, advancing with Miller at Q2. Dovi would start from 17th, as his championship standing could be heavilly affected.

Q1 Results:

13. Álex Rins /// 14. Francesco Bagnaia /// 15. Aleix Espargaró
16. Cal Crutchlow /// 17. Andrea Dovizioso /// 18. Álex Márquez
19. Iker Lecuona /// 20. Stefan Bradl
21. Bradley Smith /// 22. Tito Rabat

Lights were green and Q2 was ahead, as Yamaha once again had a strong pace on track. Starting with Franco Morbidelli getting ahead on the first attempts. The first and only accident of the session was from Miguel Oliveira, but didn’t had issues because of that. Ducati tried to show some potential at some point, as Miller and Zarco were at the front row spots at some moment of the session.

Second stint was ahead, with Petronas  riders starting to push hard, as Morbidelli and Quartararo were setting the strongest laps and other riders like Rossi, Miller and Viñales hitting red sectors on the timings. The session got intense at the last attempt, as Quartararo was leading after a strong lap ahead of Rossi and Miller, only one rider hit red sectors on the track. Franco Morbidelli took the pole from his teammate at the last attempt and gained the front spot for the first time on the maiden category. With a full Yamaha front row, as Quartararo finishes 2nd and Rossi 3rd.

Q2 Results:

1. Franco Morbidelli /// 2. Fabio Quartararo /// 3. Valentino Rossi
4. Jack Miller /// 5. Maverick Viñales ///6. Johann Zarco
7. Pol Espargaró /// 8. Joan Mir /// 9. Danilo Petrucci
10. Brad Binder /// 11. Takaaki Nakagami /// 12. Miguel Oliveira

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Another strong result by Yamaha riders and a posible outcome of how could the 2nd part of the calendar could close as Quartararo and Viñales quite close on the grid. But predict what could happend on tomorrow’s race could be risky, as this season has shown. A unexpected event could happend and change completly the standings at the championship.