Marquez storms to fifth Argentina GP pole

Marc Marquez
Marc Marquez

A flying Marc Marquez proved unstoppable in Argentina as he powered to pole – the reigning World Champion topping second place Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) by 0.154 and Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) by 0.164.

Valentino Rossi will launch from P4, ten places higher than where he started in Qatar, with last season’s pole man Miller completing a top five covered by just 0.244.

Saturday’s proceedings at the Argentina GP opened with the always-exciting Free Practice 3 session. Marc Marquez was fast from his first lap and quickly moved to top the session and became the first rider to set a 1’38. The final ten minutes of the session saw the customary time-attack for passage to Q2.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Despite early fears, the weather held for qualifying and an ambient temperature of 27°C and track temperature of 39°C helped produce a riveting Q2 session. Marc Marquez continued to show impressive speed aboard his Honda RC213V and claimed his fifth pole position at the sixth running of the Argentina GP with a lap of 1’38.304. The reigning champion is confident in his race pace, but knows he will have to wait and see what weather Sunday brings.

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) will start from his best MotoGP™ qualifying position in sixth, with teammate Fabio Quartararo continuing to impress in seventh – just 0.011 splitting the YZR-M1 duo. Crutchlow, who won from P10 on the grid last season, will start from eighth as he aims for the podium on Sunday, with the British rider joined on the third row by teammate Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Castrol) – the Japanese rider 0.734 from pole in P9 after graduating from Q1.

Marquez in a 2-wheel drift
Marquez in a 2-wheel drift

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) completes a top ten covered by 0.789 at Termas de Rio Hondo, with Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) starting from P11 after Lorenzo’s fastest lap was chalked off due to exceeding track limits – the five-time World Champion will start from 12th.

At over 120 kilometers long, Sunday’s Argentina GP is amongst the longest on the calendar. Lights go out on the 25-lap race at 15:00 local time.

Marc Marquez 93
1ST 1’38.304
“In Qualifying I was really focused to push to the maximum and fight for pole position. On the second tire I made a small mistake at the first corner so I cancelled the lap and went back in. We had planned to do three runs and my team was ready. I am happy because it’s never easy to get pole position here, especially this weekend. Our rhythm is there but we need to wait and see what the weather does!"

Lineup

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Marquez Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'38.304
2 Vinales Maverick 12 SPA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.154
3 Dovizioso Andrea 4 ITA Mission Winnow Ducati Ducati 0.164
4 Rossi Valentino 46 ITA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.241
5 Miller Jack 43 AUS Pramac Racing Ducati 0.244
6 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 0.582
7 Quartararo Fabio 20 FRA Petronas Yamaha SRT Yamaha 0.593
8 Crutchlow Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 0.651
9 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN LCR Honda Honda 0.734
10 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA Mission Winnow Ducati Ducati 0.789
11 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1.185
12 Lorenzo Jorge 99 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1.216
13 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'39.288 Q1
14 Oliveira Miguel 88 POR Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM 0.234
15 Abraham Karel 17 CZE Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 0.267
16 Rins Alex 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 0.320
17 Bagnaia Francesco 63 ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 0.323
18 Zarco Johann 5 FRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0.507
19 Mir Joan 36 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 0.541
20 Rabat Tito 53 SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 0.914
21 Syahrin Hafizh 55 MAL Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM 0.989
22 Iannone Andrea 29 ITA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1.054