Marquez continues to impress with second pole in Le Mans

2013-05-18 15:34
Marc Marquez collected his second MotoGP™ pole position for this weekend’s Monster Energy Grand Prix de France at Le Mans as the championship leader beat current title holder Jorge Lorenzo by just three hundredths of a second and Andrea Dovizioso celebrated his first front row for Ducati Team.

The majority of those in the paddock expected rainfall for qualifying, but this was not to be the case as a steady breeze graced the historic Le Mans venue. Delivering an impressive lap time of 1’33.187, Marquez looked to have convincingly sealed his second pole after Texas but was challenged hard by Lorenzo. With Dovizioso taking his first front row since Malaysia 2012, today’s result marks the first time that the Honda, Yamaha and Ducati factory teams have shared Row 1 since Spain 2012.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow came back from a heavy crash at La Chapelle in final practice to achieve the fourth best grid spot. Having already suffered two accidents in Jerez a fortnight ago, he later went to the Medical Centre for treatment and it was confirmed that he had suffered a fracture to the tibial plateau, which affects the overall stability and motion of the knee. He will undergo a further medical examination on Sunday morning to decide whether or not he is able to race at Le Mans.

Crutchlow would share the second row with LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Dani Pedrosa, who was forced to rush back to the pits with less than ten minutes to go after repeating an error made by Repsol Honda Team partner Marquez (but in final practice for the latter) and falling at Turn 3. Pedrosa later commented that a bump in the track had caused him to loose the front.

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi hopes to become the fourth winner from four races this weekend, but could muster only eighth in qualifying and will be flanked on Row 3 by GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista and Tech 3’s Bradley Smith, who with ninth place equals his best grid position of the season so far. Rossi commented he struggles to get the most out of the tyres for one hot-lap, yet that he was content with his race-pace.

Nicky Hayden completed the top ten for Ducati as Power Electronics Aspar successfully saw two CRT riders into the Q2 for the first time; although he was quicker than his teammate in Q1, local hero Randy de Puniet could not out-qualify teammate Aleix Espargaro when it came to the all-important final shootout.

Elsewhere, Michele Pirro qualified 14th, and one place behind Pramac Racing teammate Andrea Iannone, as he stands in for the recovering Ben Spies, while Colin Edwards was highly optimistic with the latest evolution of his FTR frame and went on to qualify 17th for NGM Mobile Forward Racing. On his return, Karel Abraham - with seven screws and a plate in his right shoulder following a collision in Austin - managed to achieve a sixth row placing.


Moto2

Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami achieved a career-first pole position for the Moto2™ Monster Energy Grand Prix de France as the Italtrans Racing Team rider will share the front row of the grid with Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding and Came Iodaracing Project’s local rider Johann Zarco.

Nakagami, who starred at the start of the 2013 season by leading and finishing on the podium in Qatar, saw pole position confirmed as rain finally fell at Le Mans in the second half of Saturday afternoon’s 45-minute qualifying session. He had already seen off Redding and Zarco by the comfortable margin of three tenths of a second.

Tuenti HP 40’s Esteve Rabat heads into the fourth round as championship leader. He will line up fourth on the grid from Desguaces La Torre Maptaq’s Xavier Simeon and Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Nico Terol, with Tuenti’s Pol Espargaro – who sits third in the riders’ standings behind Rabat and Redding – coming from seventh at the start.

The top ten of the 34-rider grid will be brought up Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Luthi, NGM Mobile Racing’s Mattia Pasini and Marc VDS’ Mika Kallio. Britain’s Gino Rea will start 31st on his return to the series with the independently-entered Gino Rea Race Team squad, whereas Federal Oil Gresini Moto2’s Doni Tata Pradita was the only faller in qualifying.


Moto3

Maverick Viñales confidently earned his first pole position of 2013 for the Moto3™ Monster Energy Grand Prix de France in Le Mans, with the Team Calvo rider sharing the front row with Mahindra Racing’s Miguel Oliveira and Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger.

Fresh from his first victory of the campaign at home in Spain a fortnight ago, Viñales confidently beat the previous best lap time of the French weekend to post a 1’43.696, with Portugal’s Oliveira missing out by just over a tenth of a second, but improving on Mahindra’s previous best of fifth place so far this year. In third, German Folger will line up inside the top five for the third time in four races.

With the result marking the first time in 2013 that the front row has not been completely locked out by Spanish riders, Row 2 will be occupied by Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Luis Salom (who had just returned to the circuit from hospital, where he was given the all-clear after kidney ultrasound following a crash in final practice) and Caretta Technology – RTG’s Jack Miller.

As Rins’ teammate Alex Marquez, Ongetta-Centro Seta’s Isaac Viñales, Avant Tecno’s Niklas Ajo and Ongetta-Rivacold’s Alexis Masbou rounded out the top ten, Ambrogio Racing’s Danny Webb limped slightly as he walked away from a sizeable highside accident at Musee corner; he was taken for a CT scan afterwards, with his participation being ultimately decided in the morning. He would start from 18th. San Carlo Team Italia’s Romano Fenati in 11th, and Ambrogio’s Brad Binder in 12th, also suffered falls during the session.

Source: MotoGP

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