Marquez takes his first Ducati MotoGP pole at Jerez
until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Marc Marquez secured the first pole position of his tenure as a Ducati MotoGP rider in a wet qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix.
The six-time MotoGP champion already led the 30-minute pre-qualifying practice session in the wet, and looked a heavy favourite for pole.
But having jumped to the top with a 1m46.773s - a lap around 11 seconds off dry pace - late on in Q2, Marquez then caught a big moment in Turn 1 that looked like it would thwart his and Gresini's pole bid.
This was because not only did it write off his then-current lap, but it also compromised his timing - as, having been on course to then begin his final flyer moments before the chequered flag, he was now unable to make it in time to push again.
And yet, despite that, he proved out of reach for rivals anyway.
Fellow Ducati GP23 rider Marco Bezzecchi was his closest adversary, 0.271s off, but his last-second attempt to dethrone Marquez went begging when he ran into the gravel.
Championship leader Jorge Martin (Pramac) made it an all-Ducati front row on his 2024-spec Desmosedici.
KTM's Brad Binder salvaged fourth on the grid after fighting through Q1, followed by Bezzecchi's VR46 team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marquez's Gresini team-mate and brother Alex Marquez.
Martin's three fellow GP24s made up row three, Pecco Bagnaia leading Q1 graduate Franco Morbidelli and Enea Bastianini, making it eight Ducatis in the top nine.
A crash hampered Pedro Acosta's progression in Q2, as he settled for 10th place, ahead of the two Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro - who just struggled for pace in the conditions.
A last-gasp Q1 effort from LCR rider Johann Zarco to give Honda its first Q2 appearance of the season fell short - but the Frenchman did at least repeat the RC213V's best qualifying result of the session in 13th.
Trackhouse Aprilia riders Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez were both strong in the wet in the 30-minute pre-qualifying practice - but couldn't quite mount a challenge in Q1, placing 14th and 17th on the grid.
Slotting in between them will be the KTMs of Jack Miller and tester Dani Pedrosa, Miller - normally a wet-track specialist - struggling to match Binder after being delayed by a bike issue in the early minutes.
It was a dispiriting session for Yamaha, comfortably the slowest of the manufacturers - by nearly two seconds - in Q1, with Fabio Quartararo set to line up 23rd as its best-placed rider.
