Reigning MotoGP World Champion leads all three sessions on Saturday, and his Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa will start from the front row for the fourth time this season.
Marc Márquez took the 69th pole position of his career at the Czech Grand Prix: 41 in MotoGP, 14 in Moto2 and 14 in 125cc.
Dani Pedrosa was second in FP3, 0.171 slower than his teammate, and was fifth in FP4 -less than 3 tenths back.
On his first lap of the day, Márquez crashed at Turn 10. The red flag was shown and, once the session resumed, Dani Pedrosa also fell on his second hot lap, at Turn 8.
Marc Márquez
1st – 1’54.981
I’m very happy with today because I knew that making the pole would be tough, as I normally struggle at this track, but I tried for it anyway. The test we did here was useful. I felt good already with the first tyre, even if I nearly crashed as I was pushing very hard. I tried to ride smoothly but still brake hard. With the second tyre, I gave it all I had and we got this pole. I’m very, very happy. Tomorrow we’ll see what weather conditions we have, as it looks a bit unstable and not as warm. It will be a long, hard race but we should be able to fight for the podium in either the dry or the wet, so we’re looking forward to it and to enjoying the race.
Dani Pedrosa
3rd – 1’55.119
I’m happy today because qualifying went well. I usually struggle a bit in qualifying but today I did four good laps and I really enjoyed myself, as I was able to ride as I like. I’m just over one tenth off of Marc, which is very positive as he’s very strong on pole; it was a fantastic job from my team. Now I just look forward to tomorrow. We have to wait and see what the weather will be like, as that will be a key for the race along with the tyre choice. It should be cooler, so we must be very to the point with the tyre choice and be ready for whatever situation we have to deal with.
