MotoGP: Vinales snatches pole in last seconds of qualifying

Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales snatched pole position from Franco Morbidelli in a dramatic end to qualifying for Sunday’s Monaco MotoGP.

It was a great day for Yamaha who block out the front row as Vinales was followed by the Petronas Yamaha’s of Morbidelli and world championship leader Fabio Quartararo.

Vinales snatches pole

Vinales produced a scorching hot lap to clock 1’31.411 and snatch pole position just before the session closed.

For the first time in their history Yamaha bikes claimed the top four positions on the grid with Valentino Rossi rolling back the years to claim the fourth spot.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pol Espargaro and Red Bull KTM Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira both made sure that the Austrian factory had some representation in Q2 at the Lenovo San Marino and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix after finishing first and second in Q1 at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

The Ducati’s of Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia complete the second row of the grid for the Monaco MotoGP.

Suzuki teammates Alex Rins and Joan Mir were seperated by a tenth of a second.

Andrea Dovizioso on the factory works Ducati took ninth with Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing Ducati) rounding out the top ten.

The unlucky man to miss out was Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Aleix Espargaro, as the Spaniard was less than a tenth adrift of Oliveira’s lap time meaning he had to settle for 13th on the grid for Sunday’s main event. He’ll be joined on the fifth row of the grid by Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) and Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team).

South Africa’s Brad Binder didn’t crack the second qualifying round and will start back in 16th on the grid. Binder has shown himself to be more than capable of competing on race day regardless of his grid position.

Monaco MotoGP grid

1. 1’31.411 12 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha
2. 1’31.723 21 Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha
3. 1’31.791 20 Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha
4. 1’31.877 46 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha
5. 1’32.052 43 Jack MILLER Ducati
6. 1’32.054 63 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati
7. 1’32.090 42 Alex RINS Suzuki
8. 1’32.102 36 Joan MIR Suzuki
9. 1’32.184 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati
10. 1’32.218 5 Johann ZARCO Ducati
11. 1’32.266 44 Pol ESPARGARO KTM
12. 1’32.323 88 Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM
13. 1’32.295 41 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia
14. 1’32.382 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda
15. 1’32.418 9 Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati
16. 1’32.534 33 Brad BINDER KTM
17. 1’32.791 53 Tito RABAT Ducati
18. 1’32.838 27 Iker LECUONA KTM
19. 1’32.915 6 Stefan BRADL Honda
20. 1’33.166 38 Bradley SMITH Aprilia
21. 1’33.333 73 Alex MARQUEZ Honda