Marquez marches to pole in second ever GP in Texas
. By Bikeland Staff
On only his second MotoGP™ race weekend, Repsol Honda Team’s 20-year-old Marc Marquez achieved his first premier-class pole position for the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa, as championship leader Jorge Lorenzo appeared to miscalculate his final run en route to third place.
During Q2 it was Marquez who posted the quickest ever MotoGP lap time at the Texan venue, delivering a 2’03.021 and thus undercutting 1983 and 1985 World Champion Freddie Spencer to become the youngest ever pole-sitter in the top class of the sport.
Pedrosa lowered his personal best on the final run but missed out on pole by two and a half tenths, whereas Lorenzo tried to avoid following traffic by touring through the pit lane - only to re-join the track too late to post a last-gasp challenge. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, who had not attended the test last month, heads up Row 2 from LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso. The top eight is completed by GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi.
Ninth on the grid will be leading CRT rider Aleix Espargaro, as the Power Electronics Aspar rider not only jumped up from Q1, but proceeded to out-qualify both Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden in 10th, and Ignite Pramac Racing’s Ben Spies in 12th. Sandwiched Between the two Americans is Tech 3 newcomer Bradley Smith, starting 11th in Round 2.
The fifth row will be headed up by Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone, who, like 14th-placed Randy de Puniet on his Aspar ART, had challenged, but failed to earn a spot in Q2. In 15th position, Hector Barbera will be the leading Avintia Blusens rider, starting the race in front of PBM duo Yonny Hernandez and Michael Laverty, NGM Mobile Forward Racing pairing Colin Edwards and Claudio Corti, Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci and Blusens’ Hiroshi Aoyama. The back row will consist of Gresini’s Bryan Staring, Ioda’s Lukas Pesek and Attack Performance Racing’s wildcard rider Blake Young.
Despite 26 riders on the initial entry list, unfortunately only 24 riders will start Sunday’s race. Wildcard Michael Barnes on his GPTech bike failed to make the 107% threshold, whereas Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham sustained a fracture to his right collarbone following a collision with Staring in Q1. He was taken to Brackenridge University Hospital in Austin to undergo surgery.
Moto2
Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding will start at the front of the grid for Sunday’s Moto2™ race in the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, having achieved his first pole position in any category of the World Championship, with Italtrans Racing Team’s Takaaki Nakagami and Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’ Nico Terol alongside him.
Redding, who sits second in the standings, registered a 2’10.577 and was almost seventh tenths of a second quicker than Nakagami. Terol, who achieved his first Moto2 front row, was just two hundredths of a second down on Nakagami as Tuenti HP 40’s Esteve Rabat and Technomag carXpert’s Dominique Aegerter rounded out the top five.
There was drama in the way of falls in the closing stages, as Dynavolt Intact GP’s Sandro Cortese and QMMF Racing Team’s Rafid Topan Sucipto fell simultaneously. Just minutes later, Blusens Avintia’s Toni Elias saw his last lap go up in smoke as he also lost control. All three riders escaped injury, although Cortese, the reigning Moto3™ title-holder, was frustrated to be left 20th on the grid.
Pol Espargaro and Tuenti HP 40 had improved from seventh place on Friday to the top of the classification in final practice, but the Spaniard, suffering a lack of front-end grip, was knocked back down to his previous position in qualifying. He will start the race behind NGM Mobile Racing’s Simone Corsi. Joining Espargaro on Row 3 will be Desguaces La Torre Maptaq’s Xavier Simeon and Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio, as Julian Simon completed the first ten on the second Italtrans machine.
Moto3
Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins dominated Moto3™ qualifying session for the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, taking pole position for tomorrow’s race, with Red Bull KTM Ajo’s championship leader Luis Salom and Team Calvo’s Maverick Viñales sharing the front row.
Having already topped the final practice session earlier in the day, Rins proceeded to register a blistering lap of 2’16.396 and firmly placed his Estrella Galicia 0,0 bike at the front of the grid. Salom proved to be the closest challenger, but was still almost half a second adrift while third-placed Viñales was the only other rider within a second of pole. Highly unusual as it may be for Moto3™, but there were huge time margins between riders across the 5.5 kilometres of Circuit of the Americas.
Caretta Technology – RTG’s Jack Miller will start fourth, heading the second row from Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger, who put in a committed lap to improve from 15th to fifth place on his final tour. The Estrella Galicia 0,0 team completed the top six with Alex Marquez, who escaped from a scare at Turn 1, having been demoted by Folger in the last knockings. Row 3 will consist of Avant Tecno’s Niklas Ajo, Ambrogio Racing’s Danny Webb and Ognetta-Rivacold’s Alexis Masbou, while Arthur Sissis rounds out the top ten for Red Bull KTM Ajo.
The 40-minute session was not short of drama, not least for La Fonte Tascaracing’s Hyuga Watanabe who experienced two falls; the second was by far the scariest, as the Japanese rider and Kiefer Racing’s Toni Finsterbusch touched in the braking zone for Turn 12. The touch resulted in Watanabe’s front brake being pulled on fully, sending him flying over the front of his Honda. Following a check-up at the Brackenridge University Hospital in Austin, he was confirmed to have suffered a fracture of the T4 in his spine. As the chequered flag flew, an incident took place between Sissis and Mahindra Racing’s Efren Vazquez; the duo shook hands before walking away. Sissis suffered some pain in his right wrist, but was cleared of any injury with an x-ray.