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Australia
Qualifying report

Crash fest day two sees Marquez on pole in Germany

Repsol Honda rider grabs pole on weekend of attrition at the Sachsenring

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Repsol Media

Marc Marquez secured another pole position in his rookie MotoGP championship with the Repsol Honda man setting a scintillating pace ahead of tomorrow’s eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. Taking second place was an impressive Cal Crutchlow on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 with Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi securing his first front row starting position since the 2010 season. The second day was dogged by incidents with heavy falls for many riders including current championship leader Dani Pedrosa with no confirmation as yet if the Repsol Honda rider will race tomorrow.

I'm very happy with this pole position. It's important to start from the front row at this circuit.

Marc Marquez

Heavy crashes for Andrea Iannone, after a big crash in Free Practice 4 this morning saw the Energy TI Pramac Racing rider sustain a dislocated right shoulder. There was also misfortune for Australian rider Bryan Staring with the Go&Fun Honda Gresini CRT rider being flipped into the air off his bike but amazingly he limped away from the incident. Hector Barbera also crashed his Avintia Blusens machine in FP4, as did Paul Bird Motorsport’s Michael Laverty. Following the crash-laden morning session, the first qualifying session threw up a few surprises with NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Claudio Corti and Came IodaRacing Project rider Danilo Petrucci taking the final two qualifying spots for the final session.

All eyes were on German rider Stefan Bradl with the LCR Honda rider trying his hardest to secure pole position in front of the home support but he was also to fall victim to the notoriously tricky German track after he lost the front of his RC213V machine that ended his challenge for the front row and having to settle for a 4th place start with a best lap time of 1m 21.862s. Marquez’ best time of 1m 21.311s was comfortably the fastest with Crutchlow setting a 1m 21.434s lap and Rossi on a best time of 1m 21.493s. There was joy in the Power Electronics garage with Aleix Espargaro sealing the best ever qualifying position on a CRT machine with the 5th fastest lap time of 1m 21.887s ahead of Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden on a 1m 22.157s and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith (1m 22.297s).

Cal Crutchlow, Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Cal Crutchlow, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah

Starting from 8th place tomorrow will be Alvaro Bautista on the Go&Fun Honda Gresini with the Spanish rider setting a time of 1m 22.484s and one place better than Ducati Team rider Andrea Dovizioso who put in a best lap time of 1m 22.561s. Corti secured a 10th place start with a best time of 1m 23.059s while Petrucci starts from 11th (1m 23.361s). The 12th place position on the grid is currently occupied by Pedrosa but with unconfirmed rumours that the Spaniard has injured his collarbone, it is still unclear on whether or not he will race tomorrow. Randy De Puniet will start from 13th for the Power Electronics Aspar team on a best lap of 1m 23.152s and Barbera starts from 14th with a 1m 23.333s lap.

Substituting for Ignite Pramac Racing’s Ben Spies, Michele Pirro will start from 15th place on a best time of 1m 23.349s with Laverty alongside (1m 23.549s). Yonny Hernandez starts from 17th for the Paul Bird Motorsport team setting a best time of 1m 23.565s while NGM Mobile Forward Racing rider Colin Edwards starts from 18th on a best lap of 1m 23.631s. Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham set the 19th best time despite being affect by a flu yesterday and the Czech Republic rider’s best lap of 1m 23.752s was better than that of the returning Hiroshi Aoyama with the Avintia Blusens rider starting from 20th (1m 23.820s). Lukas Pesek (Came IodaRacing Project) will start from 21st with a lap time of 1m 24.395s and Starting’s best of 1m 27.273s puts him in a 22nd grid position with 23rd allocated to Iannone although there was no time set this afternoon.

Marquez was very happy in sealing another pole position and is looking forward to tomorrow. He said, “I'm very happy with this pole position. It's important to start from the front row at this circuit, since it's quite difficult to overtake! I felt very comfortable, especially after the pace I had in FP4. In qualifying I struggled a little to get the most out of the bike, but things went better on our second exit. I think we have done a great job and we will try to do our best, have a good race and fight for the podium, and with a little luck for the victory. After I saw Dani's crash this morning I was definitely a little more cautious going through turn one. I really hope he recovers quickly and can race tomorrow. It will be a difficult race, because Valentino will be fighting also Stefan and Cal, if he's okay physically, will be up there as well"

Following a number of heavy crashes this weekend, Crutchlow was delighted to be on the front row. “I am really pleased to be back on the front row after all the drama of yesterday,” said Crutchlow who continued, “They were two really big crashes in practice and my body took a bit of beating to be honest. The first crash was completely my fault because I made a mistake on the brakes but the second was because the front tire was cold. It was definitely my worst day of the season, so to put all that behind me and get a front row when I am not close to my physical best is a great achievement.

When I woke up this morning I didn’t feel that great because my body took a big impact in a few places. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be able to ride and just to be out there is great. It is going to be a very difficult race in my condition but I will be giving it my all to get another podium. Today was a great result for my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew. I gave them plenty of work to do yesterday but they did a great job and as always I am grateful for their efforts,” Crutchlow added.

Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP

Rossi was thrilled to be back on the front row, his last time was a third position start in Portugal in 2010. Rossi said, “I’m very happy, from one side not a lot because the first position was very close but the target was to come back to the front row and I was able to. I was able to do it in a good way because I did a good lap riding well and also my gap to pole position is very close which is very important. I feel good with the bike, I have a good setting and I have quite a good pace also. Now we have to put everything together for tomorrow and try to slide the rear a bit less. I am a bit worried about the second part of the race; that will be very hard for everybody.

If we want to stay with Marc we have to make a small improvement for tomorrow. Anyway, I am so happy, the last front row for me was in 2010 in Le Mans, a long, long time ago. Tomorrow it will be a strange feeling to have nobody in front! For Jorge it is a great pity because he made a small mistake and unfortunately landed on the wrong shoulder. After what he did in Assen he was very close to a superhero. It’s a pity also for his championship but now I think he’s made the right choice to take some quiet time to recover. For him the Championship will be hard but still not impossible before the end,” Rossi added.

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