First pole for Rossi since Le Mans 2010
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 give 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 MotoGPâ„¢ 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) midsession 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), 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.
Lineup
Pos | Rider | Team | Bike | Time | Behind |
1 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | Yamaha | 1m30.843s | 0.000s |
2 | Andrea Iannone | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1m30.975s | 0.132s |
3 | Daniel Pedrosa | Honda | Honda | 1m30.999s | 0.156s |
4 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | Yamaha | 1m31.049s | 0.206s |
5 | Marc Marquez | Honda | Honda | 1m31.144s | 0.301s |
6 | Pol Espargaro | Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1m31.307s | 0.464s |
7 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1m31.324s | 0.481s |
8 | Cal Crutchlow | Ducati | Ducati | 1m31.359s | 0.516s |
9 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | Ducati | 1m31.426s | 0.583s |
10 | Stefan Bradl | LCR | Honda | 1m31.443s | 0.600s |
11 | Aleix Espargaro | Forward Racing | Forward Yamaha | 1m31.486s | 0.643s |
12 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | Ducati | 1m32.617s | 1.774s |
13 | Alvaro Bautista | Gresini Racing | Honda | 1m32.160s | Q1 |
14 | Scott Redding | Gresini Racing | Honda | 1m32.315s | Q1 |
15 | Yonny Hernandez | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 1m32.321s | Q1 |
16 | Nicky Hayden | Aspar | Honda | 1m32.395s | Q1 |
17 | Hector Barbera | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1m32.443s | Q1 |
18 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Aspar | Honda | 1m32.449s | Q1 |
19 | Alex de Angelis | Forward Racing | Forward Yamaha | 1m32.453s | Q1 |
20 | Randy de Puniet | Suzuki | Suzuki | 1m32.509s | Q1 |
21 | Danilo Petrucci | IodaRacing Project | ART/Aprilia | 1m32.683s | Q1 |
22 | Michael Laverty | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM/Aprilia | 1m32.808s | Q1 |
23 | Karel Abraham | Cardion AB Motoracing | Honda | 1m33.019s | Q1 |
24 | Broc Parkes | Paul Bird Motorsport | PBM/Aprilia | 1m33.972s | Q1 |
25 | Mike Di Meglio | Avintia Racing | Avintia/Kawasaki | 1m34.510s | Q1 |