The race which will take place on Sunday during the Aragon Grand Prix is already marked by a Honda versus Ducati clash, with the Suzuki of Andrea Iannone as an outsider, the Yamaha suffering for the moment from a Iberian heat which takes away all their motor skills.
Marc Márquez, Cal Crutchlow, Jack Miller, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Andrea Iannone, Dani Pedrosa, Danilo Petrucci, Álvaro Bautista and Alex Rins are thus pre-qualified for Q2 and have just been joined by Maverick Vinales et Takaaki Nakagami thanks to the Q.1 repechage.
Very slightly behind during the first free practice sessions compared to their Japanese competitors, the Ducati showed their power in FP4 while Marc Marquez showed the limits of his front axle.
The sun is still bathing the Motorland Aragon circuit with temperatures of 28° in the air and 46° on the track.
Here are the main chronometric references available:
|
Aragon MotoGP™ |
2017 |
2018 |
| FP1 |
2'01.243 Marc Marquez |
1'48.020 Andrea Dovizioso |
| FP2 |
1'59.858 Dani Pedrosa |
1'47.382 Marc Marquez |
| FP3 |
1'48.252 Marc Marquez |
1'47.393 Cal Crutchlow |
| FP4 |
1'48.709 Maverick Vinales |
1'48.129 Jorge Lorenzo |
| Qualification 1 |
1'48.179 Jorge Lorenzo |
1'47.823 Maverick Vinales |
| Qualification 2 |
1'47.635 Maverick Vinales |
1'46.881 Jorge Lorenzo |
| Warm Up |
1'48.832 Marc Marquez |
|
| Course |
Marquez, Pedrosa, Lorenzo |
|
| All time lap record |
1'46.635 Marc Marquez 2015 |
Soft tires at the rear for everyone, hard at the front for Cal Crutchlow and Takaaki Nakagami, tender for Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci and Alex Rins, medium for others.
Jorge Lorenzo is the last to enter the track to benefit from clear trajectories.
It's business time on Saturday at MotorLand ⏱
Who will grab pole for tomorrow's #AragonGP? 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/dzHw6uyfLp
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) September 22, 2018
The first thrown lap is performed the fastest by Marc Márquez, outright in 1'46.974, just 3 tenths of the track record which has belonged to him since 2015.
The lap times are flying in 🔥@marcmarquez93 betters his time to extend his advantage at the top!#AragonGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/7CfjaYePmE
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) September 22, 2018
Jorge Lorenzo confirms that he is also in the mix with 1'47.0.
At the end of the first run, Marc Márquez precedes by a tenth Jorge Lorenzo, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso, Andrea Iannone, Danilo Petrucci, Dani Pedrosa, Álvaro Bautista, Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales, Alex Rins and Takaaki Nakagami, the first 5 cities being held within 2/10 of a second.
Not even this rear end slide could stop @marcmarquez93 going to the top spot ✊#AragonGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/ZbjaF3h0Lo
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) September 22, 2018
On resumption, Jorge Lorenzo takes out the last one again while Marc Márquez et Andrea Dovizioso play a bit of cat and mouse, like in Moto3…
Things settle down until the last minute when Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso improve their times and take the first 2 places, while Cal Crutchlow fall at turn number 2.
Ducati thus repeats the double achieved in qualifying at Silverstone, this time with more chances of making the race…
Ranking Grand Prix of Aragon Qualification 2:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
