QUALIFYING

Maverick Viñales continued to increase his pace on Saturday after an extremely positive Friday. Despite not making the cut to Q2 in Friday’s practice following a late technical issue, both pace and confidence were there for Top Gun. After seconding Marc Marquez in the morning’s FP2 with a 1'36.887, Viñales headed to Q1 with his chances looking at his weekend’s pace. He started with a 1'36.310 which powered him up at the top of the timesheets just before heading back to the pit box, with a small gap of 0.249 secs on Marco Bezzecchi. His final exit turned out to be planned for just one fast lap, which ended to be a good bet with the number 12 improving to 1'36.284 to secure the top, and qualify to the following stage alongside Bezzecchi. A busy and competitive session then awaited 'Top Gun', with Marc Marquez quickly setting the bar high with a 1'35.643. The first effort of Maverick was a 1'36.226 before returning to the pit box, which had him in 11th. With Pedro Acosta waiting for his wheel, Maverick headed back on track for the final sequence of time attacks, and he brilliantly found a way to go under the 1’36 and clock in an impressive 1'35.852, which powered him up to row 2 once again in 6th. Brilliant effort from the Spaniard coming all the way from Q1, who will have all his chances in both Tissot Sprint and main event. Enea Bastianini came back with some improvements after a tricky opening day, to find a 1'38.060 in the final free practice slot of the weekend, although he still remained a bit far from the fastest guys. In qualifying 1, the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider rode a 1'36.827 in the early laps with his fresh set of tyres, but he could not make any further improvements. That lap remained his fastest, placing him in 18th on the grid ahead of the afternoon’s 12-lap shootout.

TISSOT SPRINT

An electric atmosphere awaited MotoGP™ riders on the sprint grid just before 3pm under a scorching Andalusian sun. As lights were out for 12 laps, Maverick Viñales kept his 6th position on the inside in T1, but left a space in the next turn, which opened the path for Firmin Aldeguer to go through and take 7th. Soon after, Fabio Di Giannantonio followed the Ducati rookie, meaning that Maverick had dropped two positions in one lap. Fabio Quartararo’s crash at the front while battling for 1st against Marc Marquez earned back one place to Maverick, and we were in 7th after two laps, with Di Giannantonio 0.349 seconds ahead, and Marco Bezzecchi behind, coming from 11th on the grid. At the front, Marquez brothers were leading Francesco Bagnaia in 3rd, with Franco Morbidelli and Aldeguer closing the top 5. After 3 laps, Viñales appeared to settle a bit more into a pace similar to the front, with a 1'37.367 (fastest race lap) on lap 4. The Spaniard maintained a good pace, progressively closing the gap on Di Giannantonio who had made the gap in the early laps, while keeping it up to prevent an overtake from Bezzecchi. Positions remained unchanged until the end, and Maverick scored his first sprint points of 2025 with a P7 finish, a positive result heading to the main event, where the medium tyres should give him more longevity. Meanwhile, teammate Enea Bastianini kept his 18th position in the first turns, but quickly found his way through both Jack Miller and Raul Fernandez to sit in 16th after one lap, 0.114 seconds from Luca Marini. The ascension continued for ‘Bestia’ who gained two more positions to P14 in the next lap, but a small mistake saw him drop back to 16th. The Italian’s reaction was fast, immediately overtaking Raul Fernandez back, but the #23 and #25 then began a battle for 16th that kept them busy for a few laps. Eventually, it was Bastianini who got the better of the other on lap 5, and once through, he had Luca Marini at sight. Crashes ahead meant P14 halfway through, but considerable time was lost in the battle against Fernandez, with Marini more than 2 seconds away. On the positive side, the gap to Alex Rins behind was no threat. The Italian rode his fastest lap in 1'38.102 on lap 7, and kept his pace and position all the way until the checkered flag. We will be looking forward to seeing him in the long distance in Sunday’s main event, as lights of the Gran Premio de España go out at 14:00 (UTC+2) for 25 laps.