Repsol Honda rider will head the grid for tomorrow’s season opening race. Teammate Dani Pedrosa to take off from sixth.
The two Repsol Honda riders kept consistent in the qualifying session for the first race of 2014. Marc Marquez took pole position at the Losail circuit in Qatar, earning the top spot on the grid and overcoming the pain still present from his preseason leg injury. The reigning World Champion’s pole performance thus has added merit under the circumstances. Teammate Dani Pedrosa ran a strong pace throughout the night, finishing sixth on a closely-contested timesheet.
Both riders continued with the work undertaken during the free practice sessions for the Qatar Grand Prix ‒in which Marquez had led the way in the first runout of the day, with Pedrosa sixth. The World Champion was able to set a time of 1’54.507 on his final lap of the night, taking his first pole position of the season. Just 0.196 slower was Pedrosa, who will start from the second row on the grid tomorrow.
The opening race of 2014 begins at 10pm local time on Sunday at the Losail Circuit, headlining the Qatar GP.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
1:54.507 | 7 laps | 38 km
“I’m really happy and this pole position is a special one for me, because after coming back from injury it gives me a boost in confidence. In any case, we know that tomorrow is the day that counts and it’s in the race that points are decided, so we have to be very focused. It is going to be a very tough for me physically, because I don’t have much strength in my leg and I have to compensate with my right arm. We are happy with how today went and seem to have found a good setup, with just a few details still to refine in tomorrow’s warmup. It will be difficult, because many riders have pace within a tenth of each other, but we shall try to have a good race.”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
1:54.703 | 7 laps | 38 km
“The qualifying session was really closely contested today -especially in the final laps. Looking at things objectively, we have a good pace and were able to set a fast lap in the session, even though in the end we qualified sixth by a really narrow margin. We’re going to continue to be positive about things, believe in the work that we have been doing here so far this weekend, and tomorrow we’ll give everything that we have to do well at the first race of the season.”
