Repsol rider comes out on top in fight for qualifying top spot, claiming 25th career pole.
Marc Márquez recorded the best time in qualifying for the Catalan GP. The Repsol rider earned his fourth consecutive pole position from five races —his only absence from the top position this season came at the opening round of 2012, when he placed second.
Márquez continued to look for the best setting for his Moto2 machine in the morning session at Montmeló —the third free practice run. The Repsol rider was ninth fastest, thanks to his best time of 1’47.414 on his eighteenth and final time around. It was a tight session, in which 14 riders were separated by less than a second.
Continuing to finetune, the Spaniard came into qualifying looking to reap the rewards for his hard work. With new tyres, Márquez immediately jumped up the standings and remained unmatched until ten minutes from the end. Pol Espargaró briefly led the way after besting Márquez’ time by 68 thousandths of a second, but the championship leader responded a lap later.
Breezing through traffic, he recovered the position and subsequently further improved by 99 thousandths, ending qualifying with a best time of 1’46.187. It was an impossible marker to beat for his rivals in the remaining two minutes.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP3 – 1:47.953, 19 laps, 90 km.
QP – 1:46.187, 17 laps, 80 km.
“Today was similar to yesterday, in that we were a little far back but I was feeling good. Maybe the setting wasn’t perfect, but that was practice and I would only have been worried had it been qualifying. We started again from zero today and did a good job, because we could see where we really were when we put on the new tyres. We shall see what happens tomorrow, but if the race is a dry one then I think we have a good base. We are ready to fight for the win”.
