Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) will start second after crashing on his final flying lap, with his teammate Franco Morbidelli lining up on the outside of the front row.
In an unreal MotoGP Q2 at the Monster Energy Czech Republic Grand Prix, Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) claimed a pole position for the first time since the 2018 Malaysian GP. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) finished second after crashing on his final flying lap, with teammate Franco Morbidelli completing the podium on Saturday. A good day for Ducati but not for Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) as the duo did not make it out of Q1 and will start from P18 and P14, respectively.
The first laps in the second qualifying session had Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) upfront crossing the line in 1:56.6. Teammate Valentino Rossi was also quite matching the Spaniard’s time to slot into P2 ahead of Morbidelli. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) then blast past to be provisional P1 with a 1:56.1 but didn’t stay up there for long as Quartararo set the first 1:55 of the weekend – a 1:55.990.
Right on the Championship leader’s tail was Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini). Quartararo was on a fast lap but not faster than his first, but Aleix Espargaro was getting himself a provisional P2.
So read: 2020 MotoGP: Marc Marquez undergoes surgery again, to be replaced by Stefan Bradl at Czech GP
Aleix Espargaro gave Aprilia their best-ever MotoGP qualifying in fourth. Viñales had to settle for P5 after facing some issues which didn’t let him get back in time for the final flying lap. This could be P6 if Espargaro’s lap time wasn’t cancelled. Teammate Binder will start in P7 benefitting from Takaaki Nakagami’s (LCR Honda Idemitdu) canceled lap time and lead Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) in P8 and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in P9.
Rossi showed signs of making it to the front row during practice but has to settle for P1 next to Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol). Rins and Crutchlow are both riding with injuries from Jerez so a P11 and P12 is rather a heroic effort.
Catch the next race LIVE on Eurosport and Eurosport HD on Sunday, 9 August 2020, at 2:15 PM IST.
Top 10:
1.Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) – 1:55.687
2. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) +0.303
3. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) +0.311
4. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) +0.387
5. Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) +0.444
6. Pole Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) +0.455
7. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) +0.612
8. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) +0.767
9. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) +0.825
10. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) +0.828