Lorenzo keeps pole run going at Aragon, Rossi 18th
Full MotoGP qualifying results from Aragon
Jorge Lorenzo has secured his third consecutive pole position for Ducati after seeing off team-mate Andrea Dovizioso and Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez by less than one-tenth of a second, while Valentino Rossi’s Aragon nightmare continued down in 18th.
Full MotoGP qualifying results from Aragon
Jorge Lorenzo has secured his third consecutive pole position for Ducati after seeing off team-mate Andrea Dovizioso and Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez by less than one-tenth of a second, while Valentino Rossi’s Aragon nightmare continued down in 18th.
With a multiple-rider fight for pole position emerging on the final qualifying laps of Q2, Lorenzo produced a blitzing time of 1m 46.881s to jump from the second row to the top of the grid, beating Dovizioso’s provisional pole by just 0.014s.
Marquez, who held pole following the opening runs in Q2, slipped down to third after failing to improve during his second run. The Honda rider, who fell in final practice, was clearly seeking a tow behind Dovizioso but then made a mistake on his last lap, while Dovi also lost time passing Bautista.
LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow crashed out of his final qualifying lap which denied him the chance to join the pole position fight and was duly pushed on to the second row by the charging factory Ducati duo.
Andrea Iannone has continued to impress for Suzuki by slotting into the middle of the second row ahead of a resurgent Dani Pedrosa for Repsol Honda.
Danilo Petrucci grabbed the front of the third row in seventh place for Pramac Ducati ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Ducati) in eighth and Alex Rins (Suzuki) in ninth.
In Q1, the Yamaha problems deepened for Rossi as he tumbled down to eighth place to leave him a net 18th on the grid, his worst dry performance since Assen 2006, when he was injured.
The Movistar Yamaha rider completed just one timed lap in the session while he struggled for pace throughout practice in hot conditions.
Rossi appeared to be hunting a tow for his final qualifying lap in Q1 but failed to put a lap together to leave his best effort over eight-tenths of a second slower than team-mate Maverick Vinales who graduated through the first session with Takaaki Nakagami.
Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) joined the two Q1 graduates on the fourth row with the Australian rider qualifying in 10th place ahead of Vinales in 11th and Nakagami 12th.
Franco Morbidelli was the unlucky rider who lines up in 13th place having been pushed out of the Q2 graduate spots by fellow rookie Nakagami at the end of Q1.
Another rider feeling the Yamaha frustrations is Johann Zarco who wrestled his Tech 3 machine to 14th on the grid, suffering two scary moments pushing the limits on his final lap.
With Aprilia’s Alex Espargaro slotting into 15th ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Bradley Smith, who looked to have been held up on his fastest qualifying lap by touring riders, Karel Abraham has also qualified ahead of Rossi with the Angel Nieto Ducati rider taking 17th in front of the nine-time world champion.
Avintia Ducati stand-in rider Jordi Torres lines up 23rd for his MotoGP debut as replacement rider for the injured Tito Rabat, while Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro missed qualifying after being ruled out by a broken collarbone sustained in an FP3 crash at the Spanish track.
