Before the start of qualifying, Brad Binder and his teammate Bo Bendsneyder were punished with three penalty places on the starting grid. The two Ajo KTM riders exceeded 110% of their best time on three sectors of the track during the last free practice session yesterday evening. On a track where aspiration is important, it is tempting to wait for the right wheel.
At the start of the session, the majority of drivers opted for the soft tire. Juanfran Guevara opens hostilities in 2'07.274, much slower than Livio Loi's reference time. The SKY VR46 team plays strategy: Romano Fenati takes advantage of Nicolo Bulega's aspiration to regain the lead in the ranking.
After only ten minutes, Fabio Quartararo moved into first position by leading his teammate Joan Mir in the slipstream. The young rookie then took second place.
Shortly before the halfway point of the session, all the drivers go to their box to put on a new set of tires. The Leopard team in particular opts for the medium rear tire. When they return to the track, the teams take care to exit at the right time to try to make the difference in the aspirations game which saves up to half a second per lap.
Quartararo makes several errors by shooting straight twice. Meanwhile, Niccolo Antonelli and Jorge Navarro crashed once again, the third for Antonelli this weekend. A detrimental fall for the Italian who was then in 17th position while Navarro was in 6th.
Livio Loi does not seem perturbed, however. The Belgian took command from his French rival in 2'05.520 then 2'06.178, thus relegating Quartararo to almost four tenths. Quartararo tries to respond. If the Frenchman improves, it is not enough to dethrone the Belgian.
The threat comes more from behind and from the KTM of Romano Fenati. The Italian takes advantage of the aspiration of the Peugeot of Alexis Masbou, the man from pole in 2015, to sign his second pole position in the world. Quartararo, passed by Binder in the last laps, is relegated to 4th in the standings, but retains his place on the front row following the sanction of the South African.
Jorge Navarro completes the Top 5 ahead of Aron Canet, Niccolo Antonelli and Bo Bendsneyder, also sanctioned. Enea Bastianini and Philipp Oettl complete the Top 10.
Among the other French people on the track, Alexis Masbou will start from 21st place tomorrow ahead of Jules Danilo.
QP ranking (not taking into account sanctions)
| Pos | number | Pile | Country | Team | Motorcycle | Km / h | Temps | difference1st/Prev. |
| 1 | 5 | Roman FENATI | ITA | Sky Racing Team VR46 | KTM | 224.1 | 2'06.131 | |
| 2 | 11 | Livio LOI | BEL | RW Racing GP B.V | Honda | 223.4 | 2'06.178 | 0.047 / 0.047 |
| 3 | 41 | Brad BINDER | RSA | Red Bull KTM Garlic | KTM | 226.3 | 2'06.245 | 0.114 / 0.067 |
| 4 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | FRA | Leopard Racing | KTM | 231.4 | 2'06.399 | 0.268 / 0.154 |
| 5 | 9 | Jorge NAVARRO | SPA | Galicia Star 0,0 | Honda | 228.5 | 2'06.448 | 0.317 / 0.049 |
| 6 | 44 | Aaron CANET | SPA | Galicia Star 0,0 | Honda | 231.1 | 2'06.462 | 0.331 / 0.014 |
| 7 | 23 | Niccolo ANTONELLI | ITA | Ongetta-Rivacold | Honda | 223.6 | 2'06.536 | 0.405 / 0.074 |
| 8 | 64 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | NED | Red Bull KTM Garlic | KTM | 225.9 | 2'06.539 | 0.408 / 0.003 |
| 9 | 33 | Enea BASTIANINI | ITA | Gresini Racing Moto3 | Honda | 227.7 | 2'06.657 | 0.526 / 0.118 |
| 10 | 65 | Philipp OETTL | GER | Schedl GP Racing | KTM | 224.5 | 2'06.707 | 0.576 / 0.050 |
| 11 | 36 | Joan Mir | SPA | Leopard Racing | KTM | 228.0 | 2'06.728 | 0.597 / 0.021 |
| 12 | 21 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3 | Mahindra | 227.8 | 2'06.733 | 0.602 / 0.005 |
| 13 | 8 | Nicholas BULEGA | ITA | Sky Racing Team VR46 | KTM | 221.4 | 2'06.786 | 0.655 / 0.053 |
| 14 | 88 | Jorge MARTIN | SPA | ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3 | Mahindra | 226.9 | 2'06.931 | 0.800 / 0.145 |
| 15 | 58 | Juanfran GUEVARA | SPA | RBA Racing Team | KTM | 228.5 | 2'06.939 | 0.808 / 0.008 |
| 16 | 84 | Jakub KORNFEIL | CZE | Drive M7 SIC Racing Team | Honda | 230.8 | 2'06.948 | 0.817 / 0.009 |
| 17 | 89 | Khairul Idham PAWI | MAL | Honda Team Asia | Honda | 228.0 | 2'06.982 | 0.851 / 0.034 |
| 18 | 19 | Gabriel RODRIGO | ARG | RBA Racing Team | KTM | 233.4 | 2'06.983 | 0.852 / 0.001 |
| 19 | 16 | Andrea MIGNO | ITA | Sky Racing Team VR46 | KTM | 226.1 | 2'07.101 | 0.970 / 0.118 |
| 20 | 55 | Andrea LOCATELLI | ITA | Leopard Racing | KTM | 231.1 | 2'07.170 | 1.039 / 0.069 |
| 21 | 10 | Alexis MASBOU | FRA | Peugeot MC Saxoprint | Peugeot | 223.6 | 2'07.209 | 1.078 / 0.039 |
| 22 | 95 | Jules DANILO | FRA | Ongetta-Rivacold | Honda | 228.9 | 2'07.220 | 1.089 / 0.011 |
| 23 | 98 | Karel HANIKA | CZE | Platinum Bay Real Estate | Mahindra | 222.5 | 2'07.359 | 1.228 / 0.139 |
| 24 | 6 | Maria HERRERA | SPA | MH6 Laglisse | KTM | 226.8 | 2'07.371 | 1.240 / 0.012 |
| 25 | 24 | Tatsuki SUZUKI | JPN | CIP-Unicom Starker | Mahindra | 225.3 | 2'07.441 | 1.310 / 0.070 |
| 26 | 40 | Darryn BINDER | RSA | Platinum Bay Real Estate | Mahindra | 225.0 | 2'07.558 | 1.427 / 0.117 |
| 27 | 7 | Adam NORRODIN | MAL | Drive M7 SIC Racing Team | Honda | 227.7 | 2'07.582 | 1.451 / 0.024 |
| 28 | 4 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | ITA | Gresini Racing Moto3 | Honda | 228.5 | 2'07.611 | 1.480 / 0.029 |
| 29 | 76 | Hiroki ONO | JPN | Honda Team Asia | Honda | 231.3 | 2'07.801 | 1.670 / 0.190 |
| 30 | 17 | John MCPHEE | GBR | Peugeot MC Saxoprint | Peugeot | 226.4 | 2'07.847 | 1.716 / 0.046 |
| 31 | 43 | Stefano VALTULINI | ITA | 3570 Team Italy | Mahindra | 227.7 | 2'08.336 | 2.205 / 0.489 |
| 32 | 3 | Fabio SPIRANELLI | ITA | CIP-Unicom Starker | Mahindra | 221.9 | 2'10.229 | 4.098 / 1.893 |
| 33 | 77 | Lorenzo PETRARCA | ITA | 3570 Team Italy | Mahindra | 218.1 | 2'10.433 | 4.302 / 0.204 |
