Repsol Honda team rider sets new pole record after masterful hot lap. Teammate Dani Pedrosa will start from ninth place tomorrow.
Marc Marquez put in a spectacular performance on the second day of the Czech Republic GP, taking pole position at Brno. The current World Championship leader was third in the two free practice sessions held on Saturday, dramatically improving his pace from the previous day. In qualifying he stopped the clock at 1:54.596, overtaking Valentino Rossi in spectacular fashion before the last corner. The pole position is his fifth of the season and his 63rd in Grand Prix racing. Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa was eleventh in the third free practice and seventh in FP1, meaning he had to go through Q1 in order to make his way into Q2. In the final qualifying session, Pedrosa set a 1:55.841 lap to claim ninth on the grid -placing him on the third row for the Czech GP.
Marc Marquez, 1st 1:54.595 >> Audio
“I honestly did not expect to get this pole position. I saw myself fighting for second place or to be in the front row, which was our main objective. Jorge [Lorenzo] did a great lap this morning that I believed would be difficult to repeat, but I was able to find a good reference which helped me during the qualifying session. Pol [Espargaro] and Valentino [Rossi] were in front, and I was able to take advantage of their slipstream and overtake on the final corner without losing time. In the end we did a very good time and I am especially happy with how FP4 went, as took a step forward in terms of our pace. We have completely changed the setup and things have gone much better. If the race is dry tomorrow it gives me hope, because I was finding things tough. If it rains then it will be more difficult, but I’m happy because we are competitive.”
Dani Pedrosa, 9th 1:55.841 >> Audio
“We tried several things with the bike’s setup between yesterday and today, but this morning we didn’t manage to perform as well as we were hoping for and I had to pass through Q1. That went well but unfortunately later we weren’t able to improve in Q2. We now have to understand which direction will be better to follow for tomorrow, depending also on what weather we’ll have. We’ll do our best to get the maximum in the race.”
