MotoGP

Marc Marquez obliterated his own record on the way to claiming his 7th pole of the season ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Iannone.
Repsol Honda’s Marquez set the fastest ever lap by a MotoGP™ bike around the 5km MotorLand Aragon circuit, as he claimed his 29th premier class pole position in a thrilling Q2 session. The Spaniard made the most of ideal conditions (Track temp. 38˚C) at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón to set a 1’46.635 on his first run to completely annihilate his own 2014 Pole Record (1’47.187) in the process by over half a second. The reigning MotoGP™ World Champion utilised a two-stop strategy and appeared to be going even quicker on his third run before he lost the front at turn 2, walking away unhurt.

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who had earlier topped FP3 after dominating on Friday, was the only rider to get within 0.5s of Marquez. Lorenzo finished 0.108s off the pace of Marquez, as he attempts to close the 23-point gap in the standings to his teammate Valentino Rossi. Lorenzo was the only other rider to break the 1’47 barrier as he claimed his 11th front row start of the season and sixth in a row.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone pulled off the surprise of the day to complete the front row, despite riding through the pain barrier. The Italian re-dislocated his left shoulder in a training accident after Misano but managed to set a time good enough to secure his fourth front row start of the season and first since Mugello. Incredibly though, he was over half a second off the pace off Marquez, as 0.543s separated the top three riders.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro (+0.699s) put in a sensational lap to start from the front of the second row in fourth as the leading Satellite rider. This equalled the Spaniard’s best qualifying performance of the season at Jerez.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa (+0.722s) had topped the earlier FP4 session but will start Sunday’s race from fifth. Pedrosa had found himself on the provisional front row after the first run but could only improve by three-hundredths of a second on his second run and will have to start from the middle of the second row.

Movistar Yamaha’s championship leader Rossi (+0.857s) was staring down the barrel of a third row start before he managed to respond on his final lap to set a time good enough for sixth. The nine-time World Champion found himself 0.749s off the pace off his closest rival Lorenzo in what was his worst Qualifying performance since Indianapolis.

Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro made use of the minor engine upgrade brought by his team to Aragon to set the seventh fastest time in his best qualifying performance since the Sachsenring.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow will start from the middle of the third row, as he lost out to Espargaro by just 0.001s. The British rider improved from 13th on the combined timesheets on Friday to finish in tenth ahead of Danilo Petrucci on the Octo Pramac Racing Ducati. Petrucci earlier had made it through from Q1 with his teammate Yonny Hernandez at the expense of Andrea Dovizioso on the Factory Ducati, who will be forced to start from 13th.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith recovered from an earlier crash at turn 5 in FP3 to complete the top ten, while Hernandez and the second Suzuki GSX-RR of Maverick Viñales round out the fourth row.

EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Scott Redding will start form 14th, while Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP Team) is the leading Open class rider in 15th in his best qualifying performance since Argentina. His teammate Nicky Hayden qualified in 16th despite riding with a broken thumb while Australian Jack Miller will start from the middle of row seven in 20th.

 

Moto2

Tito Rabat takes his second pole position of the season ahead of rivals Alex Rins and Johann Zarco at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón.

EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Rabat set a 1’52.232 in the glorious sunshine at MotorLand Aragon to re-write history and take over a second off Marc Marquez’s 2011 Pole Record (1’53.296). Amazingly, Rabat managed 14 laps under the old record and in the process set the fastest ever lap by a Moto2™ bike around the Alcaniz track to claim his 15th career Moto2™ pole position.

Paginas Amarillas HP40’s Alex Rins was just 0.035s off the pace of the reigning Moto2™ World Champion, as he secured his seventh front row start of the season in an incredibly close session that saw less than a second separate the top fifteen riders. The current championship leader Johann Zarco completed the front row, although he was 0.427s off the pace of Rabat. The Frenchman has a 93-point advantage over Rabat and can lift the title on Sunday if results go his way.

Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes (+0.440s) recovered from a nasty looking crash at turn 17 halfway through the session to set a time good enough for fourth on his very last lap that put him ahead of Takaaki Nakagami. Idemitsu Honda Team Asia’s Nakagami had been on the provisional front row on combined times after FP3 and he managed to equal his best qualifying performance of the season to start from fifth.

Rabat’s rookie teammate Alex Marquez will start from sixth, the Spaniard’s best ever Moto2™ grid position. AGR Team’s Jonas Folger heads up the third row ahead of Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) and his teammate Axel Pons, while Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) completed the top ten.

Mika Kallio impressed on his debut for the Forward Racing team as he out-qualified his teammate Julian Simon (16th) in fifteenth. Kallio’s replacement in the Italtrans Racing Team, Federico Caricasulo, has pulled out of the rest of the weekend due to an injured AC joint sustained at the WorldSBK round in Jerez, which he aggravated on Friday in a crash in FP1. Edgar Pons was making his debut for the Italtrans Racing Team this weekend and ended the session in 23rd.

 

Moto3

Enea Bastianini obliterated the Pole Record to take his fourth pole position of the season ahead of Miguel Oliveira and Danny Kent.

Gresini Racing Team Moto3’s Bastianini set a 1’57.755 to record the fastest ever Moto3™ lap around the MotorLand Aragon circuit on his way to taking pole at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón. He beat both Alex Rins’ Pole Record (1’58.318) and Juanfran Guevara’s outright Fastest Lap record (1’57.930) in the process.

The 17-year-old Italian, who took his maiden Moto3™ victory last time out at Misano, ended the session 0.200s ahead of nearest rival, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Miguel Oliveira. Oliveira secured his fifth front row start of 2015 in a session where the slipstream played a major role, especially down the long back straight.

Leopard Racing’s Kent (+0.201s), who has a 55-point lead over Bastianini in the standings, left it late to secure his 11th front row start of the season. The British rider was just a further one-thousandth of a second back from Oliveira in third as he set his fastest time on his last lap.

Mapfre Team Mahindra’s Jorge Martin (+0.657s) put in his best qualifying performance of the season to start from the front of the second row in fourth. Jorge Navarro (+0.689s) on the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda was fifth fastest after recovering from the crash that ended his participation in the San Marino GP weekend.

Ongetta-Rivacold’s Niccolo Antonelli finished in sixth (+0.710s), ahead of Alexis Masbou (SAXOPRINT RTG) and the man who had earlier topped FP3, Efren Vazquez (Leopard Racing).

Phillip Oettl (Schedl GP Racing) and Romano Fenati (Sky Racing Team VR46) completed the top ten. Fenati won last year’s race at Aragon from 13th on the grid.

Scotsman John McPhee (SAXOPRINT RTG) will start from 14th on the grid. Sena Yamada is filling in for the injured Fabio Quartararo and qualified in 23rd. Quartararo, while not riding, took the chance to announce that he will make the switch to the Leopard Racing team in 2016.

Andrea Locatelli (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) took no part in Saturday’s action and will miss the rest of the weekend due to the pain from the sacrum fracture he suffered at Misano.

 

Source: motogp.com