Remarkable Rossi gets first pole since Le Mans 20102014-11-08 13:53The MotoGP™ Q2 session saw Valentino Rossi grab pole at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, with Andrea Iannone and Dani Pedrosa also taking front row slots. The session also saw Marc Marquez suffer a turn 4 crash without consequence, though he ended up fifth on the grid. In what has been a great season for Rossi with the Italian raising his performance levels again, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider achieved his 50th career pole in the premier class and his first since Le Mans 2010 with a 1’30.843 lap at the end of Q2. The pole position gives Rossi the edge over his colleague Jorge Lorenzo in the battle for second in the championship on Sunday. Iannone (Pramac Racing) looked to be on course for his first pole in MotoGP™ but was beaten by Rossi by 0.132s as the session closed. Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) will get away from third on the grid having qualified 0.156s behind Rossi. Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) heads row two and is sure to push hard in the race to beat Rossi, at a track where the Spaniard won last year. A crash for Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) mid session left him in fifth, his worst grid position since Barcelona-Catalunya last year. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) completes the second row as he seeks to clinch sixth in the championship in his rookie season. Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) will line up on row three. Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP), Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and wild card Michele Pirro (Ducati Team) will line up on the fourth row, with Bradl and Pirro having made it through from Q1. Moto2™: Rabat secures record 11th pole in a single Moto2™ season In Moto2™ QP at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, Tito Rabat took his 11th pole of the season, with Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli also on the front row. Related Photos Marc VDS Racing Team’s Tito Rabat secured his 11th pole position of the season and his first as the 2014 Moto2 World Champion. A 1’35.199s put him 0.043s clear of Zarco (AirAsia Caterham). The French rider presented a late challenge for pole, swapping positions with Rabat several times. Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team) rounds off a solid rookie season with a front row start, 0.221s from pole position. Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Sitag) and Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini) also made it into the top five. Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3), Jonas Folger (AGR Team), Maverick Viñales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40), Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) and Luis Salom (Paginas Amarillas HP 40) completed the top ten, all within half a second of pole. Rabat’s 11th pole of 2014 sets a new intermediate class record, one more than Toni Mang in 1981 and Jorge Lorenzo in 2006. There were early QP crashes for Jordi Torres (Mapfre Aspar Team) and Robin Mulhauser (CarXpert Technomag) with the latter able to rejoin the session. Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) had a small low side, holding onto the bike and able to quickly remount. Moto3™: Antonelli on pole with Miller and Marquez on front row In the Moto3™ QP at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana on Saturday afternoon Niccolo Antonelli took pole, with Jack Miller and Alex Marquez set to join him on the front row. Source: motogp.com Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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