Three on the bounce for pole man Marquez in Aragon
Repsol Honda rider sets another lap record ahead of main championship rivals
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Repsol Media
Marc Marquez leaped into another pole position during today’s qualifying session ahead of the Gran Premio Iveco de Aragón with the Repsol Honda rider swapping lap times with Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo who was also at the sharp end throughout every session while Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa claimed third position.
I am happy, because we were able to achieve our aim, to have the pole is a bonus.
Cal Crutchlow finished with the 7th fastest time of 1m 48.653s and just ahead of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammate Bradley Smith (1m 48.854s) while Andrea Dovizioso took 9th with his best lap of 1m 49.219s with Aleix Espargaro 10th on the grid and the Power Electronics Aspar CRT rider’s best lap time of 1m 49.348s was enough to start ahead of Nicky Hayden on the Ducati Team GP13 (1m 49.428s) and Andrea Iannone (Energy TI Pramac Racing) in 12th with a best lap of 1m 50.094s.
Yonny Hernandez’s first time qualifying on the Ignite Pramac Racing bike saw the Columbian setting a best lap of 1m 50.685s for 13th place with Hiroshi Aoyama in 14th for the Avintia Blusens team with a 1m 50.995s lap. Danilo Petrucci starts from 15th tomorrow with the Came IodaRacing Project setting a best time of 1m 51.030s ahead of Randy De Puniet on the Power Electronics Aspar machine with a 1m 51.297s lap. Colin Edwards finished in 17th place in the timings today for the NGM Mobile Forward Racing team with the American’s 1m 51.327s lap time good enough to start ahead of his teammate Claudio Corti (1m 51.519s).
Hector Barbera starts from 19th tomorrow with the Avintia Blusens rider setting a best time of 1m 51.552s with Michael Laverty Claiming the final starting place in the top 20 with a 1m 51.639s lap while Bryan Staring (Go&Fun Honda Gresini) setting a best time of 1m 52.102s for 21st place. Luca Scassa (1m 52.305s) finished in 23rd with the Italian taking Karel Abraham’s seat in the Cardion AB Motoracing team for the remainder of the season and the Italian starts ahead of Lukas Pesek on the Came IodaRacing Project (1m 52.989s) and in 24th starting position is Damian Cudlin (1m 53.521s) on the Paul Bird Motorsport seat that was left vacant by Hernandez.
Taking his 7th pole position this year Marquez was very happy with his performance saying, “It was a very closely fought qualifying session. We were able to get maximum performance from the tyres, which was the key to this pole position. Small details decided things this afternoon. I am happy, because we were able to achieve our aim of a front row start and to have the pole is a bonus. Tomorrow it will be important to get a good start and keep calm in the early laps, with the intention of taking the race to Jorge and Dani."
Lorenzo lost out on pole by a miniscule amount of time, nevertheless the current Word Champion remains confident ahead of tomorrow’s race. He said, “I knew I made a really good lap and I hoped to be in first position but I knew the other riders would be very close or in front of me. Finally for ten tenths of a second I lost it. I tried my best but I made a mistake in the first corner and lost one or two tenths so lost pole position. One thing is to make one fast lap, another is to make fast laps for the whole race. In the last practice before qualifying we found something extra for pace so we are stronger in one lap and also for the pace for the race. If the race remains in dry conditions it will be a good race.”
Pedrosa was happy with another front row start, he said “Even though the position on the grid maybe doesn't reflect it, today we had a good qualifying session. We did a good job today and a lap time that I'm pleased with, for tomorrow the key will be to have a good start as the first corner is very close to the start, so I want to have a strong first few laps and maintain a good pace for the whole race. The tire wear will be crucial so it's also important to manage them for the race distance.”
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