Photography by Gold & Goose
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez stayed on top in today’s MotoGP qualifying session in Argentina to score his third consecutive pole of the season. Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo split the pair of Repsol Hondas to get his first front-row start of the year while Marquez’ teammate Dani Pedrosa trailed Lorenzo by .226 of a second to end up third.
As more laps were put in at the at the new Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, the lap times kept dropping. Marquez’s fast 1:39.103 set in FP4 was quickly a thing of the past and the top seven riders ended qualifying inside the 1:38s. But it was classic Marquez – anything you can do he can do better. So in the final moments of the session the defending World Champion threw down a 1:37.683 to take pole position.
“I think the 37 is quite fast,” Marquez said about his fast lap. “But tomorrow is most important. I think will be nice to see the temperature of course and then the decision of the front and rear tire will be important. And then the race will be long because of the life of the tires I think everybody is struggling a little bit and we will try to manage well.”
Starting on the second row will be NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro on the Open class Yamaha in fourth. Joining the older of the two Espargaro brothers will be Ducati’s Andrea Dovisioso and Lorenzo’s Movistar Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Monster Energy Tech 3’s Bradley Smith advanced from Qualifying 1 to finish seventh with Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone ninth. LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl crashed in turn two with 10 minutes left in the session, the Germany lucky to escape a big highside uninjured. He couldn’t improve on his time, howerv and ended up ninth.
Go&Fun Gresini Honda’s Alvaro Bautista rounded out the top 10.
Team Aspar’s Nicky Hayden advanced to the second qualifying session for the first time this season and qualified 12th on the production Honda. Fellow American Colin Edwards was 14th.
2014 Argentina MotoGP Qualifying Results
1. Marc Marquez (Honda) 1:37.683
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:38.425
3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:38.651
4. Aleix Espargaro (Yamaha) 1:38.794
5. Andrea Dovisioso (Ducati) 1:38.856
6. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:38.949
7. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 1:38.958
8. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 1:39.237
9. Stefan Bradl (Honda) 1:39.297
10. Alvaro Bautista (Honda) 1:39.429
12. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1:40.541
14. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1:40.476
