First pole for Rossi since Le Mans 2010

The 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 significant 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 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