Marquez storms to fifth Argentina GP pole
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 |
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 |