Aragon MotoGP: Marquez slays opposition for sixth 2016 pole
Points leader Marc Marquez dominated qualifying for Motorland Aragon’s round 14 of the MotoGP championship.
Photo by: Repsol Media
Marquez led the times from the very start of the crucial Q2 session, and his 1m47.117s that was set on his first flying lap proved unbeatable.
His Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa was the man most likely to do so, but he fell heavily in the closing stages of the only lap that might have threatened Marquez. Pedrosa will start back on the third row in seventh.
Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales and Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo will join Marquez on the front row tomorrow, ahead of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
Story of the session
Marquez – who crashed this morning in FP3 – set the pace from the get-go, a 1m47.117s that was over 1.5s clear of the field in the opening five minutes.
Cal Crutchlow was the first man to get within a quarter of a second of him on his LCR Honda, before running off at Turn 2.
Lorenzo’s first serious effort was 1m47.934s, enough for third and ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi’s 1m48.110s.
On the final runs, Crutchlow crashed out at Turn 1 and Pedrosa went down at Turn 15, on a lap that was close to Marquez’s pole time.
Vinales jumped to second on 1m47.748s, 0.631s away from Marquez, and Lorenzo jumped to third on 1m48.778s.
Dovizioso will start fourth for Ducati, ahead of Crutchlow, Rossi and Pedrosa.
Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro qualified eighth, ahead of the Pramac Ducatis of Danilo Petrucci and Scott Redding.
Pol Espargaro (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Aprilia’s Stefan Bradl, who, like Petrucci, progressed from Q1, will start 11th and 12 respectively.
Avintia Ducati’s Hector Barbera will start 13th, ahead of Alvaro Bautista, Yonny Hernandez and Eugene Laverty – who fell during the FP4 session.
Ducati factory rider Michele Pirro, subbing again for Andrea Iannone, crashed into the barrier at Turn 8 late on in Q1.
Alex Lowes sat out the session after picking up a left-foot injury in an FP3 crash.
Qualifying results
Pos. | # | Driver | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'47.117 | |
2 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Suzuki | 1'47.748 | 0.631 |
3 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'47.778 | 0.661 |
4 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'47.819 | 0.702 |
5 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'47.843 | 0.726 |
6 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'47.951 | 0.834 |
7 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'48.017 | 0.900 |
8 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | 1'48.230 | 1.113 |
9 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'48.236 | 1.119 |
10 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 1'48.242 | 1.125 |
11 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | 1'48.448 | 1.331 |
12 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia | 1'49.083 | 1.966 |
13 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 1'48.699 | |
14 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | 1'48.904 | |
15 | 68 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati | 1'48.954 | |
16 | 50 | Eugene Laverty | Ducati | 1'49.052 | |
17 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1'49.139 | |
18 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda | 1'49.319 | |
19 | 69 | Nicky Hayden | Honda | 1'49.490 | |
20 | 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati | 1'49.841 |
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