Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) failed on Saturday to take one of the first two places in the qualifying repechages for the Catalan Grand Prix of MotoGP and will only start in 17th position in the sprint on Saturday and the race on Sunday. The 2021 world champion, only 17th in qualifying on Friday, improved his best time by six tenths of a second on Saturday morning on a track much cooler than the day before, but that was not enough to climb into the top two of the Q1.
Quartararo, who was competing in the repechages for the sixth time this season in eleven Grands Prix, will therefore start in the sixth row, far from the best. It is the Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia-RNF) and the surprising Spaniard Marc Marquez (Honda) who have won the two tickets for Q2 and will thus be able to fight for pole position.