Crash 4 minutes from end of qualifying leaves Repsol Honda rider 0.017s off top spot. Dani Pedrosa will head third row, with seventh fastest time.
World Championship leader and dominant force in the two practice sessions held today –plus Friday’s fastest man– Marc Marquez will start tomorrow’s US GP from the middle of the front row of the grid. He set the second fastest time in qualifying on Saturday, with a late crash leaving him unable to improve his time and allowing Stefan Bradl to best him for pole by 0.017s. Seventh was Dani Pedrosa, who again sat out the first practice session of the day but reappeared later to up his pace.
The second day of practice for the United States Grand Prix showed that series leader Marc Marquez will be hard to beat. He set the fastest lap time of 1’21.568 in the opening practice of the day, from 23 laps. He also dominated the fourth free practice session with a time of 1’21.680, as teammate Pedrosa rejoined him on track. The latter racked up 14 laps and the fifth fastest time of the session, with a 1’22.182 lap half a second off that of his teammate.
Outside the top ten in the opening three Free Practice sessions, Pedrosa had to contest Q1 in order to qualify within the top twelve riders on the grid. He put in four laps for the best time of that initial run, then placed seventh in Q2 with a time of 1’21.728. Marquez, who looked to be on course for his fourth MotoGP pole position, crashed with four minutes remaining at Turn 6, losing the front end on a fast left hander. He will start from second tomorrow, at 2pm local time (11pm CET).
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
FP3 – DNS
QP1 – 1:22.017, 4 laps, 14 km.
QP2 – 1:21.728, 10 laps, 36 km.
“Today went a little better than yesterday. We were able to ride a little faster and I was able to make the cut for Q2. Getting seventh on the grid is very good and I’m happy with the placing, but the most important thing is that we had a good practice session and are in the mix to be able to have a good race tomorrow.”
Marc Marquez >> Audio
FP3 – 1:21.568, 23 laps, 83 km.
QP2 – 1:21.193, 6 laps, 22 km.
“I am happy, because despite the crash we are going to be starting from second on the grid for my first US Grand Prix. Obviously we would have liked to have taken pole, but I made a mistake at Turn 6 when I went in too fast. I lost the front end and couldn’t prevent the crash. I think that we’ve done a good job so far and have a strong pace, so we are confident that tomorrow we will be able to cap things off with a good race.”
