Jerez MotoGP: Rossi snatches stunning pole in Spain

In a delayed session – due to a lack of fit Michelin tyre fitters as a sickness bug had swept through their ranks – there appeared to be an all-Spanish battle for pole between Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez at their home event.

But Rossi came and crashed their party with a stunning 1m38.736s lap, heading a Yamaha 1-2. Lorenzo was 0.122s slower, with Marquez 0.155s off the pole time.

Story of the session

Lorenzo showed he meant business with 1m39.405s on his first flyer, but Marquez responded on his next lap with 1m39.064s – the fastest lap of the weekend. Lorenzo bailed out on his second lap, and peered at the 0.341s deficit on the timing screen before jumping on for his second run.

Eventually, Lorenzo slammed in 1m38.858s, as Marquez could only manage 1m39.198s on his first attempt, and looked set to grab pole until a slow final sector – with a lap of 1m38.966s.

Rossi was third early on with 1m39.535s, then improved to 1m39.463s on a long first run. He rejoined for his second run with less then five minutes remaining.

Rossi then improved to 1m39.365s, but made a huge improvement on his final flyer, recording an astounding 1m38.736s.

Marquez tried again, but 1m38.891s was the best he could manage.

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso rose to fourth, 0.844s off the pole time.

In the Suzuki battle, Aleix Espargaro set 1m39.588s but teammate Maverick Vinales eclipsed him to grab fifth with 1m39.581s.

Dani Pedrosa will start from inside the third row, ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro, Hector Barbera, Crutchlow (who had topped Q1), Andrea Iannone and Loris Baz.

Alvaro Bautista will start 13th on the newly-winged Aprilia, ahead of Tech 3’s Bradley Smith.

Pramac’s Scott Redding, who starred in Austin, qualified down in 17th.

Qualifying times:

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:38.736
2	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:38.858
3	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda Team	Honda RC213V	1:38.891
4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP16	1:39.580
5	Maverick Viñales	Team Suzuki ECSTAR	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:39.581
6	Aleix Espargaro	Team Suzuki ECSTAR	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:39.588
7	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	Honda RC213V	1:39.678
8	Pol Espargaro	Tech 3	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:39.720
9	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:39.742
10	Cal Crutchlow	Team LCR	Honda RC213V	1:39.881
11	Andrea Iannone	Ducati Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP16	1:40.054
12	Loris Baz	Avintia Racing	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:40.184
13	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia RS-GP	1:40.239
14	Bradley Smith	Tech 3	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:40.242
15	Eugene Laverty	Aspar Racing Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:40.292
16	Yonny Hernandez	Aspar Racing Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:40.335
17	Scott Redding	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati Desmosedici GP15	1:40.595
18	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia RS-GP	1:40.835
19	Jack Miller	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda RC213V	1:40.968
20	Michele Pirro	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	Ducati Desmosedici GP15	1:40.985
21	Tito Rabat	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda RC213V	1:41.039