The MotoGP Championship leader will start from pole position for the seventh time this season, with Jorge Lorenzo and teammate Dani Pedrosa joining him on the front row.
The strength of Marc Marquez as the leader of the MotoGP World continues to be confirmed, with today’s qualifying session seeing him top the timesheets after setting fastest lap of the day on Friday. Today’s pole position marks his seventh of the season and no fewer than half of his starts in the MotoGP class thus far. The Repsol Honda rider came out on top of an intense qualifying session in which Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa also topped the timesheets, both of whom will accompany Marquez on the front row of the starting grid.
The Repsol riders weren’t able to participate in the third practice session of the Grand Prix weekend. After overnight rain, damp track conditions saw the majority of the premier category riders opt to remain in their boxes. But by the 30 minute free practice session four, Pedrosa and Marquez were the only two riders under the one minute and 49 second mark, separated from each other by just 19 thousandths of a second.
In qualifying, both Repsol riders stepped their performance up and, along with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, dipped below the 1 minute and 48s barrier. Pedrosa was the first to lap under 1:48 in the session, with Rossi following after mounting a new tyre. But in the dying seconds of the qualifying heat, Lorenzo stepped in front of both Rossi and Pedrosa, with Marquez finally bettering all of them with a 1:47.804 –edging out Lorenzo by one hundredths of a second to grab pole position.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
QP – 1:47.957, 8 laps, 41 km.
“Even though the position on the grid maybe doesn’t reflect it, today we had a good qualifying session. We did a good job today and a lap time that I’m pleased with, for tomorrow the key will be to have a good start as the first corner is very close to the start, so I want to have a strong first few laps and maintain a good pace for the whole race. The tyre wear will be crucial so it’s also important to manage them for the race distance.”
Marc Marquez >> Audio
QP – 1:47.804, 8 laps, 41 km.
“It was a very closely fought qualifying session. We were able to get maximum performance from the tyres, which was the key to this pole position. Small details decided things this afternoon. I am happy, because we were able to achieve our aim of a front row start and to have the pole is a bonus. Tomorrow it will be important to get a good start and keep calm in the early laps, with the intention of taking the race to Jorge [Lorenzo] and Dani [Pedrosa].”
