Marquez weaves magic for sensational pole
Marc Marquez produced a dazzling lap to secure pole position for the Austin MotoGP at the Circuit of the Americas that even by his own game-changing standards was something truly special.
The reigning world champion was forced to switch to his number two Repsol Honda RC213V after a technical problem and ran the length of pit lane before setting off again as the clocked ticked down.
Marquez only had enough time left to complete an out lap and one flying attack at the Texas track but how he made it count, pushing the Honda to the absolute limit and then some to set a new record as he bumped Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso back to second place, denying the Italian his second straight pole start on the GP15 after he came out on top in qualifying in Qatar.
The 22-year-old's final time of 2m 02.135s gave Marquez the top spot in Austin as he heads up the front row on Sunday, perfectly poised to challenge for a hat-trick of wins at the American venue.
Dovizioso impressed yet again for Ducati as he finished 0.339s adrift with Jorge Lorenzo putting the Movistar Yamaha M1 into third place with a time of 2m 02.540s.
Valentino Rossi's fourth place on row two underscores the improvement of the M1 at a track renowned for playing to the strengths of the Hondas, with Cal Crutchlow fifth quickest on the CWM LCR Honda - 0.478s behind Marquez - and fellow Brit Scott Redding completing the top six.
Redding was only 0.539s off Marquez's pole time on the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda after an exceptional effort on the RC213V, which put him ahead of Andrea Iannone on the second of the factory Ducati machines, Suzuki's Aleix Espargaro and his brother Pol (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who form the third row of the grid.
Bradley Smith heads up row four on the second Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 along with Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci and rookie Maverick Vinales - who progressed to Q2 along with Iannone via Q1 - on the Suzuki GSX-RR.
Avintia Ducati's Hector Barbera was the leading Open rider in 13th ahead of Forward Yamaha's Stefan Bradl, followed by Yonny Hernandez (Pramac Ducati) and Mike de Meglio (Avintia Ducati).
Ireland's Eugene Laverty qualified ahead of his Aspar Honda team-mate Nicky Hayden in 17th on the RC213V-RS, who was back in 22nd, and ahead of Repsol Honda's Hiroshi Aoyama in 18th as the Japanese rider stands in for Dani Pedrosa this weekend.
Jack Miller (CWM LCR Honda) and Loris Baz (Forward Yamaha) were the top 20.
