Marc Marquez will start his third consecutive MotoGP race from pole after setting the fastest time in qualifying at Aragon.
The Spaniard waited until the final moments of the session to smash the lap record with a time of 1m47.804s. Jorge Lorenzo was the first to beat Casey Stoner’s record time and held provisional pole until Stefan Bradl and Marquez demoted him in quick succession.
Lorenzo soon picked up the pace but with his works Yamaha down on outright speed along the straight in the final sector, he was unable to reclaim his place at the top of the times.
Dani Pedrosa joins teammate Marquez on the front row in third, he was fastest in the final free practice session and looks strong ahead of tomorrow’s race.
Valentino Rossi starts from fourth alongside Bradl, who dropped down the order during the flurry of activity toward the end of the session, with Alvaro Bautista claiming sixth for Gresini. Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith share the third row of the grid with Andrea Dovizioso.
Smith was forced to participate in Q1 after struggling during practice, but alongside Andrea Iannone was able to escape into Q2 and found sizeable gains to capture eighth.
Pramac’s new recruit Yonny Hernandez had threatened to upstage Iannone towards the end of Q1 when he temporarily went second quickest, but starts from 13th.
Newcomer Luca Scassa and returnee Damian Cudlin were 22th and 24th for Cardion AB and Paul Bird, respectively.
Pos Rider Bike Time Gap 1. Marc Marquez Honda 1m47.804s 2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m47.814s +0.010s 3. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m47.957s +0.153s 4. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m47.962s +0.158s 5. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m48.128s +0.324s 6. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m48.302s +0.498s 7. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m48.653s +0.849s 8. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m48.854s +1.050s 9. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m49.219s +1.415s10. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m49.348s +1.544s11. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m49.428s +1.624s12. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 1m50.094s +2.290s13. Yonny Hernandez Pramac Ducati 1m50.685s +2.881s14. Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m50.995s +3.191s15. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Suter-BMW 1m51.030s +3.226s16. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m51.297s +3.493s17. Colin Edwards Forward FTR-Kawasaki 1m51.327s +3.523s18. Claudio Corti Forward FTR-Kawasaki 1m51.519s +3.715s19. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m51.552s +3.748s20. Michael Laverty PBM-Aprilia 1m51.639s +3.835s21. Bryan Staring Gresini FTR-Honda 1m52.102s +4.298s22. Luca Scassa Cardion Aprilia 1m52.305s +4.501s23. Lukas Pesek Ioda-Suter-BMW 1m52.989s +5.185s24. Damien Cudlin PBM-Aprilia 1m53.521s +5.717s
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