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Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda finished qualifying at the Aragon MotoGP in Spain in pole position. It is the home race for the driver, who has won the riders’ championship the past two years in a row.
Marquez said he was “still not at my limits”, although the young rider put in the fastest lap the track has ever seen. He crashed at the very end of the qualifying session, but had already set a quick enough time to outpace all his other competitors.
His compatriot Jorge Lorenzo of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP set a blazing 1:47.080 lap, but Marquez bettered this soon after, and at 1:46.635 also hit the track’s fastest laptime. Lorenzo finished qualifying in second behind Marquez, and will be on the front row ahead of tomorrow’s race.
Lorenzo said he was “happy” with his performance following the conclusion of qualifying, saying however that “tomorrow is the important thing.”
Rounding up the first row is Ducati Racing’s Andrea Iannone, who has been plagued by injury this year and said it had been “difficult” for him. The Italian dislocated his shoulder for a second time this year last week. Training ahead of the Aragon GP, Iannone made an erroneous move causing him to fall down and dislocate his shoulder, which was already weakened from an accident in Mugello earlier in the year.
He said he would “have more work” tomorrow ahead of the race.
Octo Pramac’s Yonny Hernandez had looked strong in the first qualifying session, as did teammate Danilo Petrucci, who had finished in 1st with Hernandez in second. They failed to capitalise on this, however, with Petrucci rounding up row 3 and Hernandez on the last row ahead of Maverick Vinales.
Valentino Rossi is currently leading the riders’ championships and looks set to take his 10th championship title overall if unimpeded by Jorge Lorenzo, who is only one win behind his teammate. The Italian is known for being significantly stronger at races, with his qualifying performances not necessarily indicative of his showing at the race.
He will begin tomorrow’s race on the second row, in 6th position.
