Dominant Marquez on pole again

Repsol Honda’s MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez continued his dominance of the Gran Premio Red Bull de la Republica Argentina weekend to take pole, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

Marquez appears to be enjoying every moment of the first World Championship visit to the new Termas de Rio Hondo track and he set a superb 1:37.683s late in the 15-minute showdown to maintain his 100 percent 2014 pole record.

“Today I really felt good on the bike and I am happy to have taken pole position,” stated Marquez. “In the morning and in FP4, we worked a lot with the used tire and this afternoon we obviously focused on qualifying. I put in a very good lap and I am happy.

“I think that tomorrow it will be interesting to see which tire will be required for the race, because there are various options for both the front and the rear – it is going to be a difficult choice. One of the keys for the race will be tire management, in order to try to get to the end with optimal grip – which will allow us to make the difference.”

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s 2010 and 2012 MotoGP title winner Lorenzo improved his best time significantly in the final stages to qualify second, a 0.742s margin from pole.

In an unusual move Lorenzo was the last to exit the pit lane in qualifying, waiting for quiet space on the track. The Mallorcan then returned to the pits to switch to the softer option rear tire, helping him to jump three places further up to second, securing his first front row start of the season with a 1:38.425 second lap.

An optimistic Lorenzo commented, “We are trying to solve every challenge we can to be as competitive as possible. Today we made a small modification before the qualifying practice that proved to be good.

“It was better entering the corner and also gave us more traction so I could be a bit faster. I pushed at the maximum with the soft tire to make a fast lap time and was able to make it. We are trying our best to be as competitive as possible and take the maximum so we are satisfied with the result.”

Pedrosa, meanwhile, was not far behind Lorenzo in third, his best time of 1:38.651s leaving him a second off the pole pace.

“Qualifying did not go perfectly,” Pedrosa admitted. “I wasn’t as fast as I wanted to be and I know that I made a few mistakes, especially on the final corner, which hindered me a lot. However, I’m happy, because the important thing is that we had some good practice sessions. We are high up the grid for tomorrow, so we’ll try to make the most of this and have a good race.”

Another good performance from Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) on the ‘Open’ Forward-Yamaha puts him at the head on the second row, with Italians Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) qualifying just behind him.

After making it through from Q1 Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) will shoot for another top five race result from the front of row three, with Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) behind him. Bradl walked away from a big highside but looked somewhat shaken by the crash.

Alvaro Baustista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini), Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and the other rider to make it through from Q1, Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar), will get away from the fourth row.

Moto2™ pole was claimed by Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team), ahead of Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing) and Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2).

Championship leader Rabat recorded a 1:43.961s towards the end of the session to make it a hat-trick of poles so far in 2014.

The Spaniard was not distracted by a brief pause 23 minutes from the end of the QP when the red flags came out after a crash for Sam Lowes (Speed Up) which left debris on the track. Action soon resumed after cleaning had taken place.

Zarco and Simeon respectively qualified 0.010s and 0.077s from Rabat and will both look to stay with the pole man at the start of Sunday’s race. Simeon was later given a penalty point for continuing at speed under the red flags and not entering pit lane when the red flag was displayed.

The first ever World Championship qualifying session at the new Termas de Rio Hondo track saw Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) take a second successive pole with a 1:49.200s lap, with the Australian rider to be joined on the front row by Efren Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) and Danny Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo).

Vazquez pushed hard to challenge Miller in the final stages, only to miss out by just 0.052s, while Kent was over 0.4s down.

MotoGP Qualifying Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

–From motogp.com

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