Marquez storms to Argentina pole ahead of Vinales
Full qualifying results for the Argentina MotoGP
Marc Marquez has converted his practice pace into pole position for the Argentina MotoGP by seeing off a late challenge from Monster Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales and championship leader Andrea Dovizioso for Ducati.
Full qualifying results for the Argentina MotoGP
Marc Marquez has converted his practice pace into pole position for the Argentina MotoGP by seeing off a late challenge from Monster Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales and championship leader Andrea Dovizioso for Ducati.
Marquez missed out to Dovizioso in FP2 but found key gains overnight to storm ahead during Saturday’s practice sessions. Setting the provisional pole time on his opening run of Q2 with a 1m 38.767s, Marquez was briefly displaced by Qatar pole-sitter Vinales who notched up a 1m 38.458s, but the Repsol Honda rider stormed back with his final lap of 1m 38.304s to secure top spot.
Marquez’s pole in Argentina marks his fifth pole at Autodromo Termas de Rio Hondo in six visits, only missing out last year to Jack Miller, with Vinales having to settle for second place.
Dovizioso pulled out a key late lap to move on to the front row for Ducati and ahead of Valentino Rossi on the factory Yamaha who will head up row two alongside last year’s pole-sitter Miller on the Pramac Ducati.
Franco Morbidelli completes row two on the Petronas Yamaha, producing another sterling performance as he adapts to a new bike and new team, with rookie team-mate Fabio Quartararo enjoying an equally-impressive performance to front up the third row.
After challenging for the front row at the start of Q2, Cal Crutchlow failed to improve on his final run which left him down in eighth place for LCR Honda and one spot ahead of team-mate Takaaki Nakagami who progressed through Q1.
Danilo Petrucci could only manage 10th place on the factory Ducati having struggled for pace in Argentina, while Jorge Lorenzo saw his best lap deleted for exceeding track limits meaning he will start the race in 12th place for Repsol Honda, behind Pol Espargaro on the Red Bull KTM, rather than 11th place where he initially qualified.
After narrowly missing out on Q2, Aleix Espargaro will line up in 13th place on the Aprilia. Miguel Oliveira impressed on the Tech3 KTM in 14th, along with Karel Abrahm on the Avintia Ducati one spot back, as Alex Rins ended a tough day for Suzuki down in 16th place.
Francesco Bagnaia claimed 17th on the grid for Pramac Ducati in Q1, ahead of poor performances from Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM) and Joan Mir (Suzuki), with Tito Rabat (Avintia Ducati), Hafizh Syahrin (Tech3) and Andrea Iannone (Aprilia) completing the grid.