Quaratararo achieves pole and Márquez will start sixth on his return

Fabio Quartararo took pole on Marc Márquez’s return to the Portuguese Grand Prix, after Pecco Bagnaia’s last lap that had taken that first position from him was canceled. The Cervera rider returned nine months later to fight for pole position, something that had not happened since the Spanish GP last year. He tried until the last second but could not beat the Frenchman and will start from sixth position. Marc had to go through Q1 after failing to finish in the top 10 in the third free. This situation is somewhat strange for him, with Portugal there are six times that he has been forced to go to Q1 on his return nine months later. It didn’t take long to get out. As soon as the paddock was opened, he was in charge of opening the track. Joan Mir and Marc Márquez ‘stuck’ on the track in search of a pass to Q2, the last two MotoGP world champions fighting, finally, on the track. The ilerdense was the one who set the best time first (1: 39.253) with Mir second. Both would try to improve that time but could not. Nor was it necessary. That lap earned them both to achieve the goal of being in the top two in Q1 and moving to 2 to fight for pole position. Pol Espargaró stayed close to getting in but will finally come out fourteenth. Already in Q2 Marc preferred to wait to start. At first he was ready to get on the bike as soon as possible but he changed his mind at the last minute and chose to start his lap later, with the intention of dosing and not forcing his arm excessively. Quartararo started strong, stopping the clock at 1: 39.028, while World Cup leader Johann Zarco fell to the ground, with the six-time world champion leaving with less than four minutes to go.He placed third in his first round but Zarco beat him instantly and took him out of the first row. The Frenchman will start third. Then Pecco Bagnaia beat Quartararo and placed first with 1: 38.494, the absolute record of Portimao. The Italian surprised everyone with this great weather but minutes later the lap was canceled due to a yellow flag and pole position for the MotoGP Portuguese GP went to the Yamaha rider with a time of 1: 38.862 minutes. Pecco will start eleventh, Marc Márquez finally had to settle for sixth position and will start from the second row of the grid on his return to racing. With regard to the rest of the Spanish, Álex Rins was the best classified after signing the second fastest time with his teammate, Joan Mir, ninth and Aleix Espargaró seventh. The victim was Maverick Viñales, who was not accompanied by fortune. He did three fast laps and all three were canceled, so he will start from twelfth position.