Barcelona MotoGP: Pedrosa on pole, Marquez crashes twice
Dani Pedrosa beat Jorge Lorenzo in qualifying to take pole position for the Catalan Grand Prix, as Marc Marquez crashed twice.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
While Pedrosa secured his second pole of the season - his other coming at Jerez last month - Yamaha pair Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi could only manage ninth and 13th at Barcelona.
Marquez was in the thick of the action throughout, the reigning world champion crashing five minutes in, after losing the front end at Turn 3.
He was able to get his Honda restarted and rode it back to the pits, but following a crash in FP4 earlier, he did not have a second bike to switch over to.
Mechanics quickly repaired the RC213V, including fitting a new footpeg and bending the right handlebar back into place, and he rejoined with five minutes left on the clock.
At the time, Lorenzo led the way with a 1m44.201s, until Pedrosa turned a 1m43.870s to go three tenths clear with three minutes remaining.
There was no change at the top thereafter, with Pedrosa taking his third pole position at Barcelona, while Lorenzo recorded his first front row start with Ducati.
Marquez jumped back onto the front row and into third behind Pedrosa and Lorenzo with his first flying lap after the repairs, completed with just over one minute left on the clock.
He was demoted to fourth but fastest of all through the first sector on his next lap, only to crash for a second time in the 15 minutes at Turn 5.
Fresh from his Mugello podium, Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci claimed his maiden front-row start after demoting Marquez to fourth, while Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Avintia Ducati’s Hector Barbera will start fifth and sixth.
Lorenzo’s Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso will line up start seventh, ahead of the two men who progressed to the main session from Q1, Tech 3 Yamaha’s Jonas Folger and Vinales.
Rossi will start 13th, after missing out on a Q2 berth by just 0.040s on his final lap, with Folger’s teammate Jonas Folger a further 0.020s adrift.
LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow crashed at Turn 10 on his final run and the Briton will start 17th, while Aprilia rookie Sam Lowes encountered more mechanical problems.
His primary bike was unable to start when Q1 began due to a fuel-pump problem and Lowes qualified 21st on his second bike, having missed the bulk of the 15 minutes of Q1.
Suzuki rider Sylvain Guintoli missed qualifying due to illness, while KTM’s Bradley Smith was ruled out for qualifying due to a finger injury sustained earlier on Saturday.
Q2 results:
Pos | # | Rider | Bike | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 7 | 1'43.870 | |
2 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 7 | 1'44.201 | 0.331 |
3 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 7 | 1'44.220 | 0.350 |
4 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 5 | 1'44.320 | 0.450 |
5 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 7 | 1'44.348 | 0.478 |
6 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 7 | 1'44.381 | 0.511 |
7 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 6 | 1'44.451 | 0.581 |
8 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha | 5 | 1'44.600 | 0.730 |
9 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha | 8 | 1'44.620 | 0.750 |
10 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 6 | 1'44.740 | 0.870 |
11 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 7 | 1'44.852 | 0.982 |
12 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 8 | 1'44.928 | 1.058 |
Q1 results:
Pos | # | Rider | Bike | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha | 7 | 1'44.239 | |
2 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha | 8 | 1'44.621 | 0.382 |
3 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 7 | 1'44.661 | 0.422 |
4 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha | 4 | 1'44.681 | 0.442 |
5 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 7 | 1'44.829 | 0.590 |
6 | 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati | 6 | 1'44.919 | 0.680 |
7 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 7 | 1'45.162 | 0.923 |
8 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati | 8 | 1'45.641 | 1.402 |
9 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda | 7 | 1'45.741 | 1.502 |
10 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 7 | 1'45.887 | 1.648 |
11 | 22 | Sam Lowes | Aprilia | 3 | 1'48.803 | 4.564 |
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