Marquez takes Qatar pole

Marquez

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has secured the first pole of the season at the Losail circuit in Qatar with a time of 1’54.507, marking his 10th MotoGP career pole, from 19 starts in the class.

It was an exciting session with fastest times being traded between several riders. Marc, who is still suffering from the injury that sidelined him from the last two Winter tests, took provisional pole on his first exit in Q2 before securing it with a faster time on his final lap of his second exit. He’s now found a setup he is happy with and will work on fine tuning it in tomorrow’s warm-up session.

Marc Marquez 1st – 1'54.507
“I’m really happy and this pole position is a special one for me, because after coming back from injury it gives me a boost in confidence. In any case, we know that tomorrow is the day that counts and it’s in the race that points are decided, so we have to be very focused. It is going to be a very tough for me physically, because I don't have much strength in my leg and I have to compensate with my right arm. We are happy with how today went and seem to have found a good setup, with just a few details still to refine in tomorrow's warm-up. It will be difficult, because many riders have pace within a tenth of each other, but we shall try to have a good race"

Results

Pos. Rider Num. Nation Team Constructor Time
1 Marc Marquez 93 ESP Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'54.507
2 Alvaro Bautista 19 ESP Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 1'54.564
3 Bradley Smith 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'54.601
4 Andrea Dovizioso 4 ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'54.644
5 Jorge Lorenzo 99 ESP Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA 1'54.661
6 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'54.703
7 Stefan Bradl 6 GER LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 1'54.871
8 Cal Crutchlow 35 GBR Ducati Team DUCATI 1'54.888
9 Aleix Espargaro 41 ESP NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 1'54.986
10 Valentino Rossi 46 ITA Yamaha Factory YAMAHA 1'55.096
11 Andrea Iannone 29 ITA Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'55.127
12 Pol Espargaro 44 ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'55.152
13 Nicky Hayden 69 USA Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 1'55.894
14 Colin Edwards 5 USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 1'56.042
15 Hiroshi Aoyama 7 JPN Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 1'56.479
16 Scott Redding 45 GBR Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 1'56.555
17 Yonny Hernandez 68 COL Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'56.648
18 Karel Abraham 17 CZE Cardion AB Motoracing HONDA 1'56.715
19 Hector Barbera 8 ESP Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 1'57.006
20 Danilo Petrucci 9 ITA IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER 1'57.513
21 Broc Parkes 23 AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 1'57.574
22 Mike Di Meglio 63 FRA Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 1'57.667
23 Michael Laverty 70 GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART & PBM 1'58.254