Making his mark on home turf, Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) was able to bag a first pole of the 2026 season, and first since Hungary 2025, in a classic head-to-head battle for qualifying supremacy in Jerez. Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) duelled him to the wire, only a tenth and a half back as the two carved out a league of their own in the damp. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) continues his impressive run in qualifying to complete the front row as the first of those on the chase.
It was damp conditions as Q1 got underway at Jerez and instantly, it caught out big names. Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) was an early crasher before he was joined on that list by Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR) who wasn’t able to set a lap time and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), the latter then also just missing the cut. With a good feel for the conditions, Zarco and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) graduated to join the Q2 pole battle and had the experience – and perhaps the advantage – of understanding the latest of the tricky conditions.
After a small delay to the session due to track conditions following Morbidelli’s smoking Ducati at the end of Q1, the riders hit the track, all out on wet tyres but a dry line was appearing. Halfway into the session and it was Marc Marquez who was leading the way but the same joy wasn’t reached for his brother Alex, who crashed at Turn 9 with seven minutes on the clock. Provisionally joining the 93 on the front row, whilst Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) was third but crashed at Turn 1 and was soon bumped down the order by a flying Zarco who went into P1.
Looking to take Honda’s first pole since 2023, Zarco’s hopes of a first pole in 4 years were dashed when Marc Marquez pulled out a mighty lap time to take a first pole position since the Hungarian GP last year. Zarco was pushing hard on the final lap but had to settle for P2 after a mistake in the final corner saw the Frenchman nearly lose the front. Rounding out the front row, Di Giannantonio, who despite being more than a second off, managed to sneak ahead of Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) who heads up the second row, ahead of Alex Marquez and Acosta.
A crash left Martin in the gravel and unable to improve on his lap time, rooting him to seventh and the third row, joined by Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) who also fell, this time at Turn 8, and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team), the third of the Aprilias. More qualifying struggles left double World Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) on the fourth row in P10, ahead of Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) who suffered a second crash of the day – this time at Turn 8, having fallen at Turn 13 in FP2.
With the grid set, attention turns to the Tissot Sprint! Lights out at 15:00 Local Time (UTC +2), don’t miss it!
