Catalan GP – Qualifying: Quartararo and Zarco propel themselves into Q2!

Everything seemed lost for the French drivers this Friday in Catalonia, as they were outside the top 10 when the practice session time... MotoGP stopped. That was without counting on the last effort of fabio quartararo and Johann Zarco, who narrowly secured their place in the second part of the qualifying session. Having delivered rather discreet performances on machines far below the pace of the Ducatis, Aprilias, and even the KTMs, who were in excellent form at the start of the Barcelona Grand Prix, the rider from Cannes ultimately finished 5th, and the rider from Nice 10th.

More than their respective rankings, it's the gap between the qualified riders that's striking. In 10th position, Fabio Quartararo is only 269 thousandths of a second off Pedro Acosta's time, the fastest rider in practice with a 1:38.710. The incredibly close gaps on the Barcelona circuit have caught out many favorites.

🔥 @JohannZarco1 Snatches P4! #CatalanGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/IsANFz1NL4

- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) May 15, 2026

Pecco Bagnaia and Ai Ogura missed out on direct Q2 by about a tenth of a second each, while Jorge Martín, who suffered his second crash of the day at the end of the session, finished only 17th. Two Aprilias and a factory Ducati will therefore battle for the two remaining places on the first four rows of the starting grid this Saturday morning.

At the front, KTMs have established themselves in the top 3. After a morning entirely dominated by the Italian manufacturers, only Álex Márquez (2nd) and Raul Fernandez (4th) represent the factory teams.alpineat the front. Besides Johann Zarco's 5th place, Brad Binder surprised everyone by taking the 3rd fastest time of the afternoon, less than a tenth of a second behind his teammate Pedro Acosta.

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MotoGP 2026 – Catalan Grand Prix 

The Trials ranking: