The Repsol Honda rider was already satisfied with his day yesterday, believing he was not too far from the Yamaha, in eighth place. He therefore did not expect to achieve pole position on their land, and yet he did it!
Marc Márquez was cautious on Friday, knowing he was on a circuit that better suited the Yamahas. However, after a fairly quiet first day, he attacked hard by finishing in the lead from FP3 this morning, by only a thousandth. He then led FP4 and, logically, also took pole position in the afternoon.
Even though the sessions and qualifying were very close, with the results being decided by thousandths, he still managed to finish ahead of the Yamahas, and is very satisfied: “So far things are going better than we expected for this weekend. Pole position has not been one of my strong points this year, and this is the first time that I will start from first place given that in Austin I was demoted to fourth position. »
He and the team worked hard to address the machine's weak points on this track, and it paid off: “I was happy with the pace I had in FP3 and FP4, but now I'm even happier with my result in Q2. We are trying and working in the right direction. On this track, stability is one of the main goals to achieve and, step by step, we have progressed a little. »
Obviously, the Championship leader has raised his expectations for the race: “Our first goal is to finish on the podium, but honestly we now have the opportunity to fight for victory. We have to stay focused and work well during the warm up tomorrow in order to improve a little more on stability and make the final choice on the tires. »
Qualification results:
1 93 Marc MARQUEZ Honda 1'32.791
2 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 1'32.832 0.041 0.041
3 46 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 1'32.850 0.059 0.018
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 1'32.870 0.079 0.020
5 42 Alex RINS Suzuki 1'32.933 0.142 0.063
6 25 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 1'32.984 0.193 0.051
7 41 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 1'33.029 0.238 0.045
8 5 Johann ZARCO Yamaha 1'33.072 0.281 0.043
9 29 Andrea IANNONE Suzuki 1'33.120 0.329 0.048
10 99 Jorge LORENZO Ducati 1'33.167 0.376 0.047
11 9 Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 1'33.292 0.501 0.125
12 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati 1'34.015 1.224 0.723
Q1 results:
Q2 5 Johann ZARCO Yamaha 1'33.578
Q2 42 Alex RINS Suzuki 1'33.600 0.022 0.022
13 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 1'33.625 0.047 0.025
14 53 Tito RABAT Ducati 1'33.666 0.088 0.041
15 55 Hafizh SYAHRIN Yamaha 1'33.666 0.088
16 43 Jack MILLER Ducati 1'33.672 0.094 0.006
17 45 Scott REDDING Aprilia 1'33.995 0.417 0.323
18 26 Dani PEDROSA Honda 1'34.125 0.547 0.130
19 17 Karel ABRAHAM Ducati 1'34.145 0.567 0.020
20 38 Bradley SMITH KTM 1'34.149 0.571 0.004
21 44 Pol ESPARGARO KTM 1'34.268 0.690 0.119
22 12 Thomas LUTHI Honda 1'35.192 1.614 0.924
23 10 Xavier SIMEON Ducati 1'35.646 2.068 0.454
21 Franco MORBIDELLI Honda
