Marquez ends pole drought at Assen
MotoGP champion Marc Marquez took his first pole position of the year by just 0.041s from fellow Honda rider Cal Crutchlow, at Assen on Saturday.
Despite holding a 27-point title lead, Marquez had gone seven events without a pole - his longest barren run since 2009 in the 125cc class - yet was able to triumph in the most hotly-contested qualifying session of the season.
MotoGP champion Marc Marquez took his first pole position of the year by just 0.041s from fellow Honda rider Cal Crutchlow, at Assen on Saturday.
Despite holding a 27-point title lead, Marquez had gone seven events without a pole - his longest barren run since 2009 in the 125cc class - yet was able to triumph in the most hotly-contested qualifying session of the season.
The climax of the sunny 15-minute shootout was so frantic that Johann Zarco moved into pole position on the final lap but still pushed down to eighth on the grid!
Marquez took the chequered flag just a fraction behind the Frenchman, but was able to hold on to the top spot as LCR's Crutchlow, Movistar Yamaha's Valentino Rossi and Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso all lapped within 0.079s of the Repsol rider.
Crutchlow felt he had timed his run to perfection, as many riders sought a tow in the closing stages, while Rossi was delighted to bounce back from a fast accident in final practice.
Yamaha has not won a MotoGP race since Rossi's victory at the circuit one year ago.
Rossi's team-mate Maverick Vinales will join Dovizioso and Alex Rins on the second row of Sunday's grid, all less than two-tenths from pole.
Rins had been a surprise fastest, on a hard rear tyre, after the first qualifying run before joining his rivals on a soft rear tyre at the end.
Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro and Suzuki's Andrea Iannone will join Zarco on row three, the Frenchman having earlier been forced to take part in Qualifying 1, which he led from Rins.
Jorge Lorenzo will need to fight through the field if he is to claim three race wins in a row after qualifying tenth for Ducati, but just 0.376s from pole. Fellow Desmosedici riders Danilo Petrucci and Alvaro Bautista will join him on the third row.
Most riders used the medium front tyre this afternoon although Vinales, Espargaro, Zarco and Lorenzo ran the soft on their hot laps.
Rookies Takaaki Nakagami and Hafizh Syahrin performed well in Qualifying 1 with 13th and 15th places, on a day when fellow newcomer Franco Morbidelli broke his hand in a morning fall and was ruled out of the remainder of the weekend.
