Marc Marquez and Alex Rins have therefore come to join the top ten to compete for the best places on the starting grid for a Thai Grand Prix which will take place tomorrow, Sunday. For whom is this first pole position in history on the Buriram track? Until there, Andrea Dovizioso proved intractable, but Vinales on his Yamaha has found the rhythm, announcing Yamahas that we will have to be wary of. At Honda, Crutchlow is also in ambush while with the forced absence of Lorenzo, the role of lieutenant at Ducati is up for grabs. As for Marquez, he can make history by becoming the first driver to take a pole position after going through the Q1 repechage…
Before we get into it, here is the table summarizing the facts…
|
Buriram MotoGP™ |
Chronos |
|
Jonathan Rea 2017 (WSBK SP2) |
1'32.957 |
|
D.1 tests (mid-day) |
1'30.912 Marc Marquez |
|
J.1 tests |
1'30.797 Cal Crutchlow |
|
J.2 tests |
1'29.969 Marc Marquez |
|
J.3 tests |
1'29.781 Dani Pedrosa |
|
FP1 |
1'31.220 Maverick Vinales |
|
FP2 |
1'31.090 Andrea Dovizioso |
|
FP3 |
|
|
FP4 |
1'30.693 Andrea Dovizioso |
|
Q1 |
|
|
Q2 |
|
|
Warm Up |
|
|
Course |
|
|
All time lap record |
1'29.781 Dani Pedrosa |
Marc Marquez is therefore back in the race and he could achieve the feat of a pole position by leaving the repechage…. Furthermore, the 1'30 mark seems ready to give way to open the horizon of 1'29...
Dog @marcmarquez93 become the first rider to take pole position after coming through #MotoGP Q1? 🤔#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/KD2WxeP8ir
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 6, 2018
The track is at 53° and the air at 32°. Vinales sets off first and achieves 1'30.871 but Marquez signs immediately after a benchmark 1'30.528 in hard soft before having a heat at turn 3. Petrucci, Vinales et Baptist follow and zarco also but in 1'31.
In soft riding, Dovizioso then points to second, 63 thousandths behind the Honda. Miller, Petrucci, Red et Vinales pushed the Tech3 driver back to seventh place halfway through the session.
In 1'30.356, Marquez drives the point home as we approach the last five minutes. Vinales returns to the pit annoyed and changes bikes…
Fresh rubber for @AndreaDovizioso ! 🥊
The final push for pole!#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/CbCAOKA8zK
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 6, 2018
In 1'30.099, Red caused a sensation and took the lead 2 minutes from the checkered flag. Marquez made 11 thousandths less in the following minute. Dovizioso is third. Vinales, Crutchlow et Iannone will be on the second line. zarco is eighth behind Pedrosa.
Thailand Grand Prix Buriram MotoGP Q.2: times.
Credit ranking: MotoGP.com
#MotoGP Qualifying 🏁@marcmarquez93 takes pole and becomes the first rider to do so from Q1! 👏
A strong display from @ValeYellow46 leaves him in second ahead of @AndreaDovizioso 💪#ThaiGP 🇹🇭 pic.twitter.com/XBvPH9Cwcs
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 6, 2018
