Under a second decided the front four rows of the grid for Sunday’s Catalan GP, Marc Marquez missing pole by only 0.015s with Lorenzo back in the top ten.

Grandstands at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya were filled from early in the day on Saturday, fans rewarded with one of the closest qualifying sessions of the year.

Reigning World Champion Marc Marquez started his Saturday in Barcelona attacking for a fast time, setting a 1’39.923 to advance directly into Q2. After a productive Free Practice 4 session focusing on long runs, Marquez entered Q2 with pole in his sights. Unfortunately a mistake at Turn 4 on his final flying lap saw the home hero lose time and miss pole by just 0.015s. The second place grid slot continues Marquez’s perfect run of front row starts in 2019.

Having elected to save fresh tyres for FP3, Jorge Lorenzo put in a 1’39.949 on his final run of the session and advanced directly to Q2 for the third time in 2019. As he has throughout the weekend, Lorenzo was able to post competitive times throughout the 15-minute session. A 1’40.199 will see Lorenzo head the fourth row of the grid for Sunday’s race.

Lights for the 24-lap Catalan Grand Prix are set to go out at 14:00 local time on Sunday, June 16.


Marc Marquez - 2nd 1'39.499

“If we think about the whole weekend, today I'm very happy. We achieved our target of being on the front row but really today we were ready to be on pole position but I made mistake at Turn 4 on the last lap. Quartararo did a great job today. Apart from that we are happy as we have the pace and the rhythm, especially in FP4 on used tyres I was very constant. Let’s try to understand where we can get an advantage, analyse everything and enjoy Sunday at the home GP!”

Jorge Lorenzo - 10th 1'40.199

“This has been one of our most consistent weekends of the year, it’s positive to see this improvement. I think we have made a step forward and hopefully we can finish this race better than the previous ones. Everything we have done has made me more comfortable on the bike. Our pace on the long run is quite strong so I think we can continue this progress in the race and then make another step on Monday.”