MotoGP

 

Saturday afternoon’s Q2 at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya ended with Dani Pedrosa securing pole position, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez on row one for Sunday’s race – with Marquez suffering a late crash in the session.

At his home event Pedrosa took his first pole since the 2013 Catalan Grand Prix with a 1’40.985s lap in the Barcelona-Catalunya heat and in doing so the Repsol Honda rider ended Marquez’ successive pole run.

Following his fascinating battle with Marquez at Mugello Lorenzo qualified in second place and will be looking forward to fighting the Honda riders again at a track where the Mallorcan has a strong record and has won the last two MotoGP™ races.

Marquez walked away from his first crash of the year after losing the front end at turn 1 towards the end of the session. The young MotoGP™ World Champion therefore starts third on the grid, his first non-pole result since Motegi last year.

German rider Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP), who himself suffered two big crashes at Mugello, qualified fourth after looking sharp in practice earlier in the day.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) admits qualifying is not currently his strongest point but he equaled his second best Q2 result of 2014 so far in fifth, having qualified 10th last time out in Mugello.

Another home rider Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) was delighted with his qualifying effort as he completed row two, just 0.323s behind Pedrosa.

Row three will feature Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing), with Hernandez riding well for ninth.

The fourth row will comprise Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini). Iannone and Bautista made it through from Q1 as spots of rain threatened to disrupt Q2.

The conditions stayed dry but Bautista suffered a big Q2 highside at turn 7 and was stretchered away, though he appeared to be ok.

 

Moto2

 

The Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya action on Saturday saw Tito Rabat secure pole in the final session of the day, with Mika Kallio and Maverick Viñales set to accompany him at the front of the Moto2™ grid.

Rabat notched up his fifth pole position of 2014 with a 1’46.569 best lap which put him over a half a second clear of his nearest challenger, Marc VDS Racing Team teammate Kallio. Rabat will go in search of a fourth win of the season as he looks to extend his championship lead on Sunday.

For Kallio his quest is to prevent another Rabat win and to reduce the 22 point deficit at the top of the standings, which he will attempt to do from second on the grid. The front row was completed by Moto3™ World Champion Viñales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40), who trailed Rabat by 0.623s.

Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) was one of three crashers in the session – Mattia Pasini (NGM Forward Racing) and Louis Rossi (SAG Team) also had spills without major consequence – though Cortese still qualified in fourth. Cortese’s compatriot Jonas Folger (AGR Team) and Pasini join him on the second row.

The top ten on the grid was rounded out by Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2), Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing), Sam Lowes (Speed Up) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert).

 

Moto3

 

Moto3™ QP at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya resulted in Alex Marquez taking pole, with Enea Bastianini and Alex Rins joining him on the front row.

Marquez produced a superb 1’50.232 lap to shatter the Barcelona-Catalunya Moto3 pole record and outpace his nearest rival by more than 0.6s.
Bastianini (Junior Team Go&FUN Moto3) will be delighted with his qualifying result, featuring on the front row for the first time, at just his seventh Grand Prix.

Marquez’ Estrella Galicia 0,0 teammate Rins ended up third but had a huge turn 10 highside at the end of the session and suffered a fractured toe on his left foot, with his fitness to be reviewed on Sunday morning.

Improving pair Brad Binder (Ambrogio Racing) and Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo) qualified on the second row, ahead of in-form Isaac Viñales (Calvo Team).

Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra Racing) heads row three, joined by Efren Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) and championship leader Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo), with Vazquez missing much of the session due to an electrical fault which caused issues with putting fuel into his Honda bike.

John McPhee (SAXOPRINT RTG) completed the top ten, whilst Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) will start from 16th on the grid. Bryan Schouten and Ana Carrasco both crashed but escaped without serious consequence.

 

Source: motogp.com