Marquez stays perfect with Le Mans pole

Having secured MotoGP™ pole again at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France Marc Marquez will head the grid for Sunday’s fifth race of 2014, with the front row also featuring Pol Espargaro and Andrea Dovizioso.

After the first flying laps Marquez was immediately top with a 1:32.567, to set a new fastest ever lap of Le Mans, the World Champion then improving to a remarkable 1:32.042 time to maintain his 100 percent qualifying record in 2014.

“I’m very happy to be on pole and also with the gap between myself and second place on the timesheet,” Marquez said. “Tomorrow will be interesting as my main rivals – Dani [Pedrosa], Jorge [Lorenzo] and Valentino [Rossi] – are not on the front row but on rows two and three. However, I know they will be there in the battle and we must be prepared.

Starting from pole is an advantage and I will try to capitalize from it and give 100 percent – as always – to fight for the win.”

Repsol Honda’s Marquez was 0.692s clear of rookie Espargaro with the latter securing his best MotoGP grid result to date. Espargaro’s performance at his team’s home round will fill him with confidence ahead of just his fifth premier class race.

The Moto2™ World Champion put in a 1:32.734 late in the session to push Dovizioso (Ducati Team) down to third.

The Spaniard commented, “For me it is my first small victory. We worked so hard to be competitive and finally we are here. We put in a lot of effort in the pre-season and the first races and it is such a great reward to get this at the team’s home round. I know that it was just one lap and our rhythm is not as high as the other guys. But starting from second will give me some strength for the race.

“We have to be realistic about the podium though. Our rhythm is not as high, maybe in a few races we can think about the podium. I will obviously try and push my hardest but for sure Jorge Lorenzo’s rhythm and speed is very high.”

Making good use of the extra soft tire Dovizioso qualified 0.713s behind Marquez to take the final spot on the front row. The Italian rider notched the factory’s first front row grid result of 2014 with a 1:32.755 lap around the 4.2km circuit.

Dovizioso was pleased with the grid position, but was more satisfied with his overall preparations and pace before Sunday’s fifth race of the year.

Summing up Saturday’s action he stated, “I’m so happy about the first row but also about our lap time. Our pace with the hard tires is quite fast and is close to the fastest riders.

“It confirms we have improved and specifically improved the steering of the bike. It will be very difficult as many riders have a similar pace, but this is our best ever condition for a race. We have a good chance to fight in this race and here will be a bit better than Jerez. We can be close to the fight for the podium. We’re still not quite on the same level as the other riders but we are getting closer.”

The second row features Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP), who has recovered quickly from arm pump surgery since Jerez, with Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) reaching his personal target of qualifying in the top five as he slots in behind the German.

Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was 0.857s off pole in sixth place but he will still be confident of a good race at a venue where he has a strong record.

Making up an all-Spanish third row are Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini), top Open rider Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team).

The fourth row meanwhile comprises Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team), with Iannone briefly flashing up in second place provisionally before his lap time was cancelled as he exceeded the track limits.

The Moto2™ race on Sunday at Le Mans will start with rookie Jonas Folger at the head of the grid, in front of Tito Rabat and Luis Salom on row one.

Folger (AGR Team) secured the fifth Grand Prix pole of his career and his first since graduating to the intermediate class with a late 1:37.619s lap, as he looks to build on his Jerez podium result.

Behind the German on the grid are Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) and Salom (Pons HP 40), with Rabat on provisional pole for a long period of a session which also brought a crash for the standings leader.

There will be plenty of experience on row two with Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team), Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) and Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) qualifying fourth to sixth respectively.

Moto3™ qualifying in France saw Efren Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) outpace the rest of the field in Le Mans with a new pole record of 1:42.491, with Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) joining him on the front row.

Vazquez has taken a step up this season in terms of his competitiveness and he achieved his first Grand Prix pole by a 0.025s margin from standings leader Miller, while Rins missed out on top spot by 0.227s as he was hindered on a late fast lap.

–From motogp.com

MotoGP Qualifying Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

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