Repsol rider claims third on the grid for Australian GP, taking off from the third row.
One year ago, Marc Marquez starred in one of the most spectacular comebacks in living memory, starting from last position on the grid and finishing third. For tomorrow’s race, the Spaniard will start from the front row and needs only to finish in the top fourteen to become World Champion, regardless of what his rivals do. Rival Pol Espargaró budge will start from the pole as the title chase goes down to the wire.
Having missed one of the free practice sessions yesterday, the third run out this morning allowed Marquez to make up for lost time and put in 21 laps on his Moto2 machine. He finally stopped the clock in 1’34.573 milliseconds, 0.555 off the best time set by Scott Redding.
In qualifying, the Repsol rider was again strong from the start, setting the second fastest time behind Pol Espargaró, but Scott Redding was also very fast, later splitting the two Spaniards. After a brief shower with 20 minutes remaining, forcing a wait in the pits of some 10 minutes for the wind to dry up the asphalt, Marquez and the rest of the field were back on track in search of pole. The Repsol rider was able to improve his time, but not his place on the grid. He will take off from third, behind Espargaró and Redding.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP3 – 1:34.573, 21 laps, 93 km.
QP – 1:34.408, 18 laps, 80 km.
“We have to be realistic; the difference off pole is fairly large. We gradually improved our times and our setting, but Pol is in great form. We are having difficulties finding our best setting and also missed the first session, so we are a little further back. We have the warm up to go, with room for improvement. In the race we will try to get a good start in order to be as far up as possible.”
