Pedrosa storms to Spanish Pole at Jerez

Pedrosa storms to pole
Pedrosa storms to pole

Dani Pedrosa took a stunning pole position, his 29th in MotoGP and the 47th in his career, edging teammate Marc Marquez by just half a tenth in a breath-taking battle for the top spot during the final minutes of the Gran Premio Red Bull de Espana in Jerez. Cal Crutchlow in third completes an all-Honda front row for the first time since the German GP in 2014 (at the Sachsenring).

Pedrosa has led every session this weekend apart from today’s FP4, showing a competitive pace and dazzling speed in every condition. Tomorrow he will start from pole for the first time since Malaysia in 2015, and he’ll do so at the 3,000th Grand Prix of the world championship.

Marquez made good use of the work he did on the setup of his RC213V, and after a fourth-fastest time in the morning’s FP3 session ensured him a direct passage to Q2, he posted the top time in FP4 and then fought hard for the pole in qualifying.

Race will start tomorrow 14h00 local time.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Dani Pedrosa POLE POSITION 1'38.249
“This was probably one of the best poles of my career because it was a really hard battle. It was a strategic end of the session with Marc there right behind me, so for a moment I wasn’t sure if I should push or not. There was no choice anyway, so I just went for it. I’m very happy because our main target for the GP was to be on the front row. The feeling was really good, and it has been good all weekend, so I told myself, Okay, let’s try it. It has been a while since I’ve led in qualifying; I’ve struggled a lot last season so I’m very happy with today. Thanks to the team for the hard work, and I’m also happy for Honda. It looks like we’re doing really well so let’s focus for tomorrow and do the best we can!"

Marc Marquez 2ND 1'38.298
“Dani has been really strong and fast today, and all weekend honestly. For that reason, I tried to follow him during the final laps in qualifying, to learn what he was doing differently! I was able to do a very good lap time and that was my target, to get a front-row start because I’ve been struggling a bit here with the fast lap. I’m happy because it looks like we’re getting better and better. Today in FP4 we were able to set a very good pace and we’re very satisfied with that. Normally this circuit is not one of the best for our bike and for my riding style, but it looks like our plans are working well. We’re improving in the areas we’re working on, and that’s also important in view of the coming races at the other European tracks. Anyway, now we must think about tomorrow; race day is always different but we’ll try to manage well."

Qualifying Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'38.249
2 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'38.298
3 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 1'38.453
4 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'38.677
5 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'38.744
6 ZARCO Johann 5 FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'38.861
7 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'38.908
8 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Ducati Team Ducati 1'38.910
9 FOLGER Jonas 94 GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'39.108
10 MILLER Jack 43 AUS Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'39.125
11 REDDING Scott 45 GBR Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 1'39.152
12 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'39.400
13 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 1'39.090
14 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'39.255
15 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'39.282
16 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'39.321
17 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 1'39.462
18 RABAT Tito 53 SPA Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'39.564
19 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 1'39.678
20 BAZ Loris 76 FRA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1'39.824
21 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1'39.906
22 LOWES Sam 22 GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'40.213
23 TSUDA Takuya 22 JPN Suzuki Test Team Suzuki 1'40.386