Mugello MotoGP: Marquez pips Quartararo to pole, Rossi 18th

Reigning champion Marquez established a new lap record at Mugello with his best time of 1m45.519s on his Honda, eclipsing the 1m45.733s set by Quartararo on the Petronas SRT Yamaha.

Danilo Petrucci, who earlier in the day beat the existing record at the Tuscan circuit, was third-fastest, as the top five riders all bested the Ducati rider's previous benchmark.

It was Quartararo - who took his first MotoGP pole two races ago - that led after the opening runs in Q2 as he knocked Marquez off the top spot with a 1m45.992s, before improving to a 1m45.845s.

The latter time was enough for provisional pole right until the chequered flag, when Marquez improved with the help of a tow from title rival Andrea Dovizioso.

Behind third-placed Petrucci, Franco Morbidelli made it two Petronas bikes in the top four, while Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) completed the second row.

Maverick Vinales, second after the first runs, couldn't improve in the closing stages and will start seventh on the best of the works Yamahas, followed by Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac) and Dovizioso, who had earlier set the pace in Q1.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR), top KTM rider Pol Espargaro and Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro, who likewise made it out of Q1, completed the Q2 order.

Q1: Rossi joins Lorenzo, Rins on sidelines

The top two spots in Q1 were occupied by Ducati riders, as Dovizioso and Pirro set times just 0.005s apart to book their places in the second segment of qualifying.

It was Pirro that led after the opening runs with a best lap of 1m46.283s, comfortably clear of Suzuki man Alex Rins on a 1m46.539s.

Ducati elected to keep Pirro in the garage for the second runs, and the wildcard was duly demoted to second when Dovizioso posted a 1m46.278s to grab the top spot.

Rins couldn't improve, however, and will therefore start Sunday's race from 13th on the grid ahead of Tito Rabat's Avintia Ducati and Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia.

Valentino Rossi faces the prospect of starting his home grand prix in 18th, a year on from taking pole at Mugello, behind Karel Abraham (Avintia) and Jorge Lorenzo (Honda).

Rossi was only seventh on the opening runs, and didn't get a proper flying lap on the board after changing tyres, which left him 0.906s shy of Dovizioso's time and with his worst qualifying result since last year's Aragon race.

Johann Zarco suffered a high-speed crash at Correntaio on his final lap and will start 19th, one place ahead of Joan Mir's Suzuki, while Andrea Iannone (Aprilia) rounds out the 23-strong field.

Q2 results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'45.519
2	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1'45.733	0.214
3	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'45.881	0.362
4	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1'45.959	0.440
5	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'46.029	0.510
6	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'46.079	0.560
7	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1'46.181	0.662
8	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1'46.260	0.741
9	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'46.293	0.774
10	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1'46.387	0.868
11	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'46.433	0.914
12	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1'46.638	1.119
View full results

Q1 results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'46.278
2	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1'46.283	0.005
3	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'46.539	0.261
4	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	1'46.678	0.400
5	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'46.899	0.621
6	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'47.028	0.750
7	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	1'47.135	0.857
8	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'47.184	0.906
9	5	Johann Zarco	KTM	1'47.394	1.116
10	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1'47.519	1.241
11	55	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM	1'48.222	1.944
12	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1'48.235	1.957
13	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	1'48.303	2.025
View full results