Marc Márquez was untouchable during the Aragón Moto GP qualifying session. The Catalan racer imposed himself on his teammate, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Iannnone (Pramac Ducati) who reached the third place.
Qualifications started with a Q1 invaded by unusal protagonists. The 9-time champion , who also won the previous race in Misano, Valentino Rossa, led the first part of the session after finishing 11th in this morning free practice. Hector Barberà also led the pack for a short time. His impressive run helped him reach the Q2 for the first time this season. The Catalan driver who burnt himself yesterday as his new Avintia Ducati took fire, did a great time today and left Yonny Hernandez, Hiroshi Aoyama and Alvaro Bautista out at the end of the Q1.
During the Q2, the first two laps led Marc Marquez in first position with a spectacular time, the record for the track. Marquez beat Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo by only 7 tenths. Pedrosa and Aleix Espargaro were able to stay behind, next to Iannonne and a rather discreet Rossi. In the second half of this first “run”, only a few racers were able to sign a better time, except for Marquez who managed to cut even more his impressive time.
After a little break in the pits, every racer, except from Barberà, went out again on track to cut their times. Shortly after the final laps started, we saw the first fall. Bradley Smith fell on the floor, he managed to stand up but appeared to be a little bit shaken. In the meantime, Pedrosa executed a perfect lap which propelled him to the first place, in front of his teammate. Pol Espargaro also did a great lap and reached the fourth place, just as Cal Crutchlow. A few seconds before, Andrea Dovizioso had also fell as he was running a lap that had put him on the temporary first place. What a pity for the Italian.
Pedrosa had the pole in the last seconds, but Marquez, as well as Iannone were faster and had better sectors. In the end, Ducati Italian driver finished third, as Marquez took the pole, with 3 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. The fourth place went to Pol Espargaro, followed by an impressive Crutchlow, who overstepped both Yamahas, who were quite disappointing with Rossi in 6th and Lorenzo on 7th. Bradl, Dovizioso, Aleix Espargaro, Bradley Smith and Hector Barbera complete the first 12 positions of the grid. Tomorrow, the Motorland race will start at 2pm.