Fourth pole of the season for Marc Marquez, who dominates qualifying session. Dani Pedrosa also takes spot on front row with third place.
The leader of all four Free Practice sessions, Marc Marquez capped off a perfect two days with pole position at Indianapolis. The Repsol Honda rider took his fourth pole of the year, breaking the circuit record and leading the way by over half a second from Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa –who will join him on the front row.
In the third and fourth practice sessions, Marquez was the only rider to go round in under 1’39s. Pedrosa was fifth in the day’s two practice runs. However, in qualifying Marquez turned things up a notch. He bested Pedrosa’s pole record from last year on his first attempt, and then dropped a further halfsecond with his definitive lap time of 1’37.958. Also on his second attempt, Pedrosa set a time of 1’38.485, 0.527 off his Repsol Honda teammate as they were split by Lorenzo –0.014 ahead– on the starting grid.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
FP3 – 1:39.569, 19 laps, 80 km
QP – 1:38.485, 8 laps, 34 km.
“Today went well, we were able to improve our times, so I’m happy! Starting from the first row is good for us and the feeling with the bike is more positive, but we still have to choose the rear tyre. The important thing for tomorrow is to start well and have a good race.”
Marc Marquez >> Audio
FP3 – 1:38.844, 19 laps, 80 km.
QP – 1:37.958, 8 laps, 34 km.
“I’m happy with how things went in the qualifying session. Obviously taking pole is important, but it’s tomorrow that really counts. Besides that, the conditions change a lot, tyre durability suffers and it will be tough as the race progresses. We knew the qualifying session was all about the single flying lap, the tyres had a lot of grip then and I took advantage of it. I set a very good time and I think for tomorrow we are ready to fight for victory. As always, we will give one hundred percent.”
