It was feisty battle for MotoGP pole in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, but a fairytale result for home hero Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi taking the top spot from Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo and Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales.
Q1:
The first session in Mugello’s qualifying saw Pramac Racing Ducati’s Jack Miller and Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales making it through to Q2 which saw Honda’s Dani Pedrosa unable to challenge for a place in the second session.
The Australian finished at the top with Vinales in second – the duo only separated by a mere 0.035s. Avintia Racing Ducati’s Tito Rabat (1m46.908s) was third and will start the race on Sunday from 13th on the grid.
Tech 3 Yamaha’s Hafizh Syahrin (1m47.188s) finished 14th ahead of the lead KTM of Pol Espargaro (1m47.335s), followed by Angel Nieto Ducati of Alvaro Bautista (1m47.708s), the second KTM of Bradley Smith (1m47.818s) and LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami (1m47.868s) – the Japanese only 0.050s behind the British rider.
Marc VDS Honda’s Thomas Luthi (1m47.989s) was 19th ahead of Pedrosa (1m48.065s) as Aprilia had a disaster with Alexis Espargaro (1m48.286s) only 21st and Scott Redding (1m48.744s) 23rd, sandwiching Angel Nieto Ducati’s Karel Abraham (1m48.532s), with Avintia Racing Ducati’s Xavier Simoen (1m48.794s) in 24th.
Q2:
It was a tight second session in the battle for pole which saw multiple riders trading times at the top with Yamaha’s Rossi surprising everyone as he celebrated his 65th pole position in Mugello – the Italian clocking record-breaking 1m46.208s.
Starting alongside will be his longtime nemesis in the lead Ducati, Lorenzo who was only 0.035s behind the Italian as Vinales made it a Yamaha 1-3 after his time of 1m46.304s – the trio only separated by a 0.098s.
After dominating much in the practice sessions, Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone (1m46.347s) could only manage fourth with Pramac Racing Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci (1m46.445s) in fifth ahead of championship leader Honda’s Marc Marquez (1m46.454s).
Title rival Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso (1m46.500s) was seventh, followed by the lead LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow (1m46.813s) and Tech 3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco (1m46.830s) in eighth and ninth respectively.
Suzuki’s Alex Rins was 10th (1m46.909s) with Miller (1m46.998s) and Marc VDS Honda’s Franco Morbidelli (1m47.002s) completing the Top 12 for the Sunday’s race.