MotoGP Catalonia LIVE race: Fabio Quartararo dominates, Aleix Espargaró stunned and Johann Zarco third confirmed at Pramac Ducati in 2023

Aleix Espargaro qualified in Catalonia in pole position for the fourth time in MotoGP by setting a new lap record on the Montmèlo circuit, with Assen/2014 then on Forward Yamaha, Catalunya/2015 with Suzuki and Argentina/2022 with Aprilia. It will aim to offer Aprilia a podium after five successive races in the premier category, which would be a first for the manufacturer.

With Alex Espargaro in pole position, this is the second pole position for Aprilia since the introduction of MotoGP in 2002 and the fourth overall in the premier class with Tetsuya Harada in Italy in 1999 and Jeremy McWilliams in Australia in 2000. Aprilia becomes the fifth manufacturer to qualify in pole position in Catalonia MotoGP since 2002 with Honda (9 pole positions), Yamaha (8), Ducati (2) and Suzuki (1).

Francis Bagnaia qualified in second position, which is the fourth time this year he has qualified on the front row. He will attempt to win back-to-back races for the first time since Algarve and Valencia last year.

fabio quartararo qualified in third position for his third front row of the season with Indonesia (pole) and Spain (second). He then took second place in both races. He will aim for victory for the second time this year with Portugal. He won in MotoGP in Catalonia in 2020. This is the 39th front row of Quarterly in MotoGP. In his 38 front row starts, he has finished on the podium 21 times, including seven of his nine premier class victories so far.

Johann zarco qualified fourth, the seventh time in nine MotoGP races this year that he has qualified in the top six, although he started from ninth in France following a penalty. He will aim to win for the first time in MotoGP.

On pole last weekend in Italy, the rookie Fabio DiGiannantonio qualified in fifth position for this second best qualification. George Martin qualified in sixth position, the first time he has qualified on the front two rows since the Americas earlier this year, when he was on pole position. He will try to get on the podium for the second time since the start of the year, like in Argentina where he was in P2.

alex rins qualified in seventh position as best driver Suzuki, matching his best qualifying result of the season since Argentina and the Americas earlier this year, when he finished on the podium each time. After going through Q1, Maverick Vinales qualified in eighth position, his second best result since joining Aprilia from Argentina earlier this year, where he qualified fifth. He will try to get on the podium for the first time with Aprilia.

Espargaro Pol qualified in 10th position, which is the fifth time he has qualified in the top 10 this year. He will try to offer Honda its second podium of the season, after that of Qatar where he finished P3. Third in the Championship, Enea Bastianini qualified in 14th position, which is his second worst result of the season after Portugal where he qualified in 18th position.

What will this Catalan Grand Prix race, ninth round of the season, have in store for us? Before answering this question, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

Catalunya-Barcelona MotoGP™	2021	2022
FP1	1'40.378 Aleix Espargaró (See here)	1'40.101 Alex Rins (See here)
FP2	1'39.235 Johann Zarco (See here)	1'39.402 Aleix Espargaró (See here)
FP3	1'38.929 Franco Morbidelli (See here)	1'38.771 Aleix Espargaró (See here)
FP4	1'39.602 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'39.992 Aleix Espargaró (See here)
Q1	1'39.153 Jack Miller (See here)	1'39.216 Maverick Viñales (See here)
Q2	1'38.853 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'38.742 Aleix Espargaró (See here)
Warm up	1'39.783 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)	1'40.135 Maverick Vinales (See here)
Course	Oliveira, Zarco, Miller (See here)	Quartararo, Martin, Zarco (See here)
All time lap record	1'38.853 Fabio Quartararo 2021 (See here)	1'38.771 Aleix Espargaró (See here)

Here are the live images…

30° in the air and 54° on the track are promised to the protagonists of this ninth round of the championship. Paolo Ciabatti announces that Johann Zarco will be reappointed to Pramac Ducati in 2023.

And here we go for 23 laps! At the first turn, the leader is Aleix Espargaró before bagnaia et Quartararo. Zarco is sixth behind Mir. It's a disaster for bagnaia who fell Kidneys et Nakagami are also the accident. Quarterly then comes first. It is Nakagami  who, in falling, brought with him bagnaia et Rinse. Bradl falls with the Honda. Two RC213Vs are already down after falling.

After two rounds, Quarterly leads ahead Martin et Aleix I will espargaro. They are all in full medium in front zarco in medium hard. Marini closes the top 5. Mir leads the rest of the pack. bastianini is ninth. Quarterly has the best lap in the race, he already has a lead of more than a second. Bezzecchi crash at turn 10 after 3 laps. During this time , Rins decides to go to the medical center , feels pain in left wrist and right hand. His teammate Mir is in full attack.

After 5 rounds, Quarterly leads the way with a 2s3 lead over Martin Aleix I will espargaro et zarco which gains power with its hard rear tire. bastianini fall at turn 5. With the elimination of bagnaia, it’s a hard blow for Ducati in the race for the Plotes title. By Giannantonio, his teammate falls in the process. The Pramac team is the only one to defend Ducati's chances. Miller is only 13th, with his official KTM contract in his pocket.

Aleix Espargaró pass Martin for second place. Quarterly is at 3s4.

zarco traced back. At Ducati, we are red… with anger: Davide Tardossi (Ducati): “ Race management is expected to take action against Nakagami , at the beginning of one's career we learn that races are not won in the first race, at most they are lost in the first corner ». Ducati will likely call for a penalty for the Japanese driver.

zarco (4th) comes dangerously close to Martin (3rd), a challenge between teammates, only 4 tenths behind. fabio quartararo has an abysmal lead in the lead,  Aleix Espargaro is four seconds one with 12 laps to go. The Yamaha official is untouchable. with 10 laps remaining, he increased his lead to almost 5 seconds. Martin iron Aleix I will espargaro.

Quartararo runs a separate race , the Frenchman took the lead on the first lap and is now more than 5 seconds ahead of George Martin et Aleix Espargaró. The pilot Yamaha must pay attention to tire wear, given the heat in Barcelona. There are five rounds left...

Aleix Espargaró (3rd) goes wide in the turns, Zarco (4th) approaches , there is only three tenths of distance left between the two. The Frenchman has a hard rear tire (he is the only driver to have this option) , he could take advantage of this to push in the last laps. Aleix Espargaró (3rd) approaches Martin (2nd), there is only 2 tenths of difference between the two, the driver Aprilia wants second position in Catalonia. And he gets it!

There are three rounds left in Catalonia and Aleix Espargaro takes shelter from the two Ducati Pramacs who will battle it out for the last step on the podium. But the last twist arrives: Aleix Espargaró is idling with his Aprilia. He is fifth under the checkered flag, which salutes Quarterly before Martin et zarco. Mir is fourth in front Aleix I will espargaro who thought the race was over one lap before its end...

MotoGP Catalonia Race: classification

Credit classification motogp.com

What happened to Aleix Espargaró is incredible , unprecedented in the World Championship: while there was still one lap remaining, he started to greet the public while he was in second position. Initially we thought it was an engine failure, in reality the Aprilia rider thought he had finished the race . When he leaves, he manages to climb to 5th place, but loses big points in terms of the world championship.

Aleix Espargaró is desperate , he enters the box with his hands on his helmet, an error like this is very serious at this level, given that the championship is tight. There is also Carmelo Ezpeleta, the CEO of Dorna, to console Aleix Espargaró in the Aprilia garage.