Qualifying with a decidedly positive outcome for Pedro Acosta, who besides securing his second pole position in MotoGP took the first spot on the starting grid right in front of his home crowd. The fight for the front row ended with a surprising result, this time concerning the 2nd place of Franco Morbidelli, who delivered an excellent performance after a difficult start to the championship. Finally, Alex Marquez finished in the top 3, three tenths behind Acosta’s fastest lap, with the top three riders commenting on their respective performances to the microphones of Sky Sport MotoGP at the end of the session.
Acosta: the first pole since 2024
“It’s been a long time since the last pole at Motegi, even though I fell in the Sprint and in the race, so we will try to do things differently today. We are all working well, but it’s true that we need to understand some things, especially because my electronic engineer who became a dad yesterday is not here. Congratulations Alessio! I hope the baby is doing well!”
Morbidelli: “The reflection of our work”
“Great performance today. We have been working very well for the last 3-4 races, the feelings on this new bike are not what I would like, but we are working to have a better performance. This is positive and it reflects the work we are doing. I am very happy, this front row goes to the team because we are doing an amazing job. I have no idea how the Sprint race will be, it will be important to make a good start. We will see, the Sprint is always a crazy race, we have to see.”
Read more GP Catalonia 2026: the report of FP2 and Qualifying
Alex Marquez and the temperature
“I made a small mistake during the third lap, but above all I missed the braking at turn 10. There I left too much margin and didn’t go to the limit. This morning we tried some things that didn’t work and we made a very good move for qualifying. The temperature is rising, and this is important. The temperature this morning did not favor us. With the soft tire, the Sprint is not a race where you can push from the start, moreover the rear tire starts to wear out a lot. But it’s my home race, so I will try to push from start to finish and give my best to at least get on the podium.”
