Pole domination continues for sensational Marc Marquez in Jerez

Marc Marquez gave himself the best possible chance of winning his first ever grand prix at the Jerez De La Fronteira circuit with the reigning MotoGP World Champion taking position at the end of today’s qualifying session ahead of tomorrow’s Gran Premio bwin de España and making it an all Spanish front row is Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa.

Marquez set a best lap time of 1m 38.120s under sunny and hot conditions with that lap becoming the new pole record at the track. Lorenzo was happy to be back on his old stomping ground and his best lap time of 1m 38.541s was 0.510s ahead of Pedrosa’s best. Heading the second row will be Movistar Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi who loves the Jerez circuit and has the record to prove it and his best lap of 1m 38.857s sees him start ahead of Aleix Espargaro for the NGM Forward Racing team (1m 39.007s) and Ducati Team rider Andrea Dovizioso in sixth position.

Starting from the front of the third row will be Stefan Bradl on the LCR Honda machine and his best lap of 1m 39.243s was enough to start ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammates Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith starting from 8th and 9th respectively. The top ten was rounded off by Alvaro Bautista (GO&Fun Honda Gresini) while fellow Americans Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) and Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing) start from 11th and 12th.

Speaking after taking his fourth consecutive pole of the 2014 season Marquez was delighted to have performed so well at a track that hasn’t always been the kindest to hi. He said, “I am very happy with this pole position, as it was hard fought and I wasn't expecting it. We are suffering a little more here than at other tracks, but despite this we are still at the same level as Lorenzo and Dani. We changed our strategy at the last minute; I asked Santi if it would be possible to use three soft tyres, and he said that it was. It was all last minute and I am satisfied with how it worked out, but we know that tomorrow is the important day. Jorge and, above all, Dani have a great pace.”

Lorenzo was happy with taking a second place start saying, “We tried our best to make the best lap time, but unfortunately with the second tire I don't know why I it didn't feel the same, it felt a little more slippery which is why I didn't improve my lap. The goal was to stay in the first row; that was important. Obviously pole position would be better but the most important thing is to start well tomorrow, I think we have a good pace so we can definitely fight at the front. It will be important to stay close at the front for the first couple of laps, the rear tire is going to drop a lot but I feel physically good as I did last year which will be very important for the race.”

Pedrosa was focused on his set up for tomorrow’s race although he still aimed for a front row start today. He said, “We took a step forward with the bike setup today and also went better with the race tires. In the qualifying session we tried to do as well as possible, but it is always difficult to put in a really fast lap. Tomorrow we will try to get a good start, then have a good race.”