Argentina MotoGP: Miller gambles on slicks for shock pole

With rain falling in FP4, qualifying started under wet conditions and, although a dry line began to develop early on, wet tyres were used in Q1 and at the beginning of Q2.

However, Miller, Marc Marquez and Cal Crutchlow started their second runs on slick tyres, and were the only three riders to throw the dice on a switch to dry-weather rubber.

But while Marquez and Crutchlow quickly returned to the pits to revert to wets after one lap, Miller stayed out on slicks and grabbed pole with a last-second flyer, beating Dani Pedrosa by 0.177s with a time of 1m47.153s.

The front row for Sunday's race will be completed by Tech 3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco, who was just 0.035s slower than Pedrosa.

Avintia Ducati rider Tito Rabat - like Miller, also on a GP17 - was an impressive fourth, with Suzuki's Alex Rins taking fifth.

Marquez was the clear favourite for a fifth straight Argentina poled coming into qualifying after topping third and fourth practice, but in the end he had to settle for sixth, 0.601s off the pace.

Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro was on top of the timesheets after the first runs but dropped as low as seventh by the finish, while Qatar winner Andrea Dovizioso was more than a second off the pace in eighth.

The factory Yamahas of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi were only ninth and 11th respectively, sandwiching Crutchlow, as Suzuki's Andrea Iannone rounded out the Q2 order.

How they will line up...

Q1: Espargaro beats the Ducatis

Although the factory Ducatis of Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo spent most of the Q1 in the top two, a last-second improvement from Espargaro sent him through to the second segment of qualifying.

The Aprilia rider's 1m49.128s effort put him in the clear by 0.390s, with Dovizioso joining him in advancing to Q2.

Lorenzo was also beaten by Karel Abraham's (Angel Nieto) two-year-old Ducati in the end, and the Spaniard will start the race from 14th.

Scott Redding was more than a second slower than his Aprilia teammate in fifth, giving him 15th on the grid, with Pol Espargaro leading KTM's efforts one place behind the Briton.

Avintia Ducati's Xavier Simeon, also a on two-year-old bike, was the top rookie in 17th ahead of the third GP18 of usual wet-weather specialist Danilo Petrucci (Pramac).

Q2 results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'47.153
2	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'47.330	0.177
3	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'47.365	0.212
4	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	1'47.681	0.528
5	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'47.743	0.590
6	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'47.754	0.601
7	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'47.845	0.692
8	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'48.247	1.094
9	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'49.044	1.891
10	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'49.304	2.151
11	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'49.326	2.173
12	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'49.975	2.822

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
Q2	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'49.128
Q2	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'49.518	0.390
13	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'49.878	0.750
14	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'50.063	0.935
15	45	Scott Redding	Aprilia	1'50.175	1.047
16	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'50.324	1.196
17	10	Xavier Simeon	Ducati	1'50.364	1.236
18	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'50.449	1.321
19	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'50.606	1.478
20	12	Thomas Luthi	Honda	1'50.833	1.705
21	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'51.007	1.879
22	21	Franco Morbidelli	Honda	1'51.012	1.884
23	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Yamaha	1'51.142	2.014
24	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1'51.387	2.259