Repsol Honda Team riders take first and third position, respectively, in qualifying for the German Grand Prix on a wet track.
Marc Márquez took his eighth consecutive pole position at Sachsenring: One in 125cc in 2010, two in Moto2 in 2011 and 2012, and five in MotoGP –every year since 2013.
The reigning MotoGP World Champion led all three sessions today: He was fastest in the two free practice sessions and in qualifying. This will be the third time this year that he will start from pole.
Dani Pedrosa took a step forward, going from ninth in FP3 and second in FP4, to one tenth off his teammate in third place.
Marc Márquez, 1s t1’27.302 sec.
“When I saw that it was going to be a wet qualifying session, I set a front-row position as my target. Anyway, I’ve felt very good on the bike since the beginning and I saw that the rain was easing off, so I tried to find a good rhythm as I prepared to attack in the final stages. Halfway into the session there was a bit of confusion with Maverick. In qualifying everyone pushes a lot and there was some contact, but luckily nothing happened. In the end I was able to do a very good lap and I’m quite happy with that, as it’s always very difficult to manage in the rain. Now we just need to focus on the race, which will be tough as there are many fast riders with a good pace, starting with my teammate! It seems that it won’t rain, but whatever conditions we find, it will be okay, as we have a really good pace both in the dry and in the wet.”
Dani Pedrosa, 3rd1’27.949 sec.
“I’m very happy with this front-row position, as the start is very important at this track since the first corners are very tight. So I’m happy with the result and also to have found my feeling in the wet again, which I had lost in Assen last week. It was a very interesting qualifying session because the asphalt was so “grippy” with the rain. Watching Q1, it was amazing to see how fast they went and how tight the lap times were. When our session started, the track began to dry and the temperature also began to rise. The conditions were tricky but ultimately we got a good result. We lapped well enough in the dry as well, so we’re ready to try and get a good result tomorrow. We’ll try to do a good start, be aggressive in the first corners, and quickly set a good rhythm.”
