Marquez secures eighth pole of the year at Indianapolis

Marc Marquez added another pole position to his MotoGP records after the reigning MotoGP Champion took the no. 1 starting position at the Indy Motor Speedway during today’s qualifying session for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix ahead of Ducati Team rider Andrea Dovizioso in second and Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo rounding out the front row starting positions.

Marquez continued to adapt the quickest to the improving track conditions at the Brickyard and set a fastest lap time of 1m 31.619s and .225s ahead of Dovizioso whose best time of 1m 31.844s was good enough to stay ahead of Lorenzo with the Spaniard setting a fastest time of 1m 31.869s. Taking the top spot on the second row is Aleix Espargaro with the Spaniard setting a best time of 1m 32.113s for the NGM Forward Racing team while Valentino Rossi starts from 5^th for the Movistar Yamaha team with ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Pol Espargaro with his best time of 1m 32.243s

I am happy with how I am feeling, and we will try to give 100%, as always.

Marc Marquez

Starting from seventh place tomorrow will be Pramac Racing rider Andrea Iannone with a best time of 1m 32.254s and the Italian rider starting ahead of Repsol Honda’ rider Dani Pedrosa who was uncharacteristically off the pace setting a best time of 1m 32.331s ahead of Bradley Smith on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine with a best lap of 1m 32.343s and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl rounding out the top ten with his 1m 32.514s ahead of Scott Redding and the GO&Fun Honda Gresini team (1m 32.714s) and Ducati Team rider Cal Crutchlow in 12^th with a best time of 1m 32.794s.

Speaking about his eight pole of the year Marquez said, “I am happy to have taken this pole position, because it is important to start well after the summer break. The fundamental thing is that we have a good pace for tomorrow. The tire choice tomorrow will also be important, especially with the rear. We will see what the temperature is like and, from there, decide which compound to use. I am happy with how I am feeling, and we will try to give 100%, as always.”

Dovizioso was very happy with his front row start saying, “It was a perfect qualifying. I didn’t expect to go under 1’32, though for sure Marc gave me a big help. We’ve worked really well through the weekend and have been in the top five in every session. It will be difficult in the race because after four laps the tyre drops and it will be hard to make a good lap time. But it’s good to be on the first row because the first corner is really tight.”

Lorenzo tried a number of settings on his YZR-M1 and the Bridgestone tires and was very satisfied to end up with a front row start. He said, “We tried a new setting during Free Practice 4 with the hard tire but it wasn’t good. We have to understand what the problem was; if the tire wasn’t right or if the setting wasn’t good. With the soft tire the bike was working quite well and when we tried the hard tire yesterday it was working really good. Tomorrow in the warm-up we will see if the feeling is ok with the hard tire.

During the qualifying I tried to put in a very good lap time. After the first try I was very satisfied with the lap. The second time I wanted to improve a little bit more but I came across so many riders waiting for a tow that I couldn’t ride like I did before. I went just two tenths of a second faster, but it was enough to give me this first row, which is a good position,” Lorenzo added.