The World Championship leader becomes the first rider to take pole position after having contested Q1. Pedrosa will start from seventh position.
Marc Márquez clocked the best time in a tight qualifying session, despite suffering a crash at Turn 4 in FP3 which forced him to go through Q1.
With this result, the reigning World Champion holds the honour of taking the first pole position at the Chang International Circuit, the fifth pole for him this year and his 50th in MotoGP.
Dani Pedrosa, sixth in FP3 and eighth in FP4, will start from the third row of the grid tomorrow, after qualifying seventh -four tenths off the best time.
MARC MÁRQUEZ 1st | 1’30.088
“It’s fantastic to be on pole, and it seems it’s a record to have done so going trough Q1 but I honestly would have preferred to pass directly to Q2! This morning we were very unlucky because when we fitted the new rear tyre at the end of FP3, we had a little issue and had to quickly swap to the other bike. It wasn’t the same, and I lost the front while I was improving my lap time. Anyway, after that we managed everything in a good way, and in QP1 I was able to ride very well. We’re very happy because a front-row start was our target. Now we have a very important race tomorrow, and a very long one. I’m happy with my race pace but we must wait and see what the conditions are like and where we and our opponents are. On paper, at the moment there are a few riders who should be able to be fast. It will be important to manage the tyres and the physical conditions well. Our target will be the podium.”
DANI PEDROSA 7th | 1’30.458
“Today in qualifying I lacked a couple of tenths on my flying lap, and that was enough to be just off of the two first rows. Our first tyre wasn’t as good as the second one, and we had to play all our cards in our final run. I managed to improve my performance, and that was actually my best lap of the weekend, but it still wasn’t enough. Anyway, we’re closing the gap to the top, and that’s the positive part. For the race, we’ll see. I think the rear-tyre choice is still open, so we need to analyse everything very well before making our decision for tomorrow.”
